


Green, Black and Blue Make the Colours in the Sky

by ClothesBeam



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-01-09 23:53:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 47,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12286884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClothesBeam/pseuds/ClothesBeam
Summary: After seven years without their father, Leo still hasn't gotten the hang of being both older brother and sensei, and he's not sure he ever will. But maybe all the head of the Hamato clan needs is support from an old acquaintance, one who isn't entirely satisfied with his current lot in life either.





	1. Reunion

Leo just knew Donnie coming out of his lab with a look that smug could only lead to trouble. His feeling of foreboding only rose when it was Raph he approached with his latest invention.

‘Once again I have proven that magic is just unexplained science,’ Donatello announced, holding up something that looked suspiciously like a repurposed Utrom portal device.

Raph rolled his eyes but turned his full attention to his brother anyway. ‘Oh, this is gonna be good.’

‘Only six and a half years later, and here I am with a way back to the world we met Miyamoto Usagi in.’

Raph tilted his head to the side and pressed his lips together, refusing to look too impressed just yet. ‘Prove it.’

Leo sighed to himself and fully withdrew from his meditation. He went to stand in the open doorway to the dojo so he could keep a proper eye on them and whatever was about to happen. Trying to be both brother and part time parent and “sensei” felt impossible most days.

‘Be my guest,’ Donnie replied as he dropped the device on the ground and let a portal open up.

Before Raph could so much as think about getting off the couch to check it out, a pair of flailing arms pushed through the barrier before a figure fell backward through the portal and landed hard on his backside. On the way down his foot collided with the device and sent it ricocheting off the wall with a powerful kick.

Despite his chaotic entrance, Leo felt his heart beat a bit faster at the sight of their samurai friend, even if he didn’t appear particularly noble or refined at the moment. Usagi stood and brushed his dark navy hakama off, taking in his sudden change in surroundings with confusion and suspicion.

His clothing was much nicer than what he’d worn when they’d first met him on the road. He wore a kataginu that matched the colour of his hakama, with a family seal Leo didn’t recognise emblazoned in white on either side of his chest. The kimono he wore under the other clothing was also white with shallow sleeves, and his swords of various lengths hung at his hip. The material his clothing was made of was obviously high quality, and the wide shoulders of the kataginu struck an impressive silhouette.

Recognition flashed in his eyes when he looked at the three of four brothers in the room. But rather than greeting them, he wrinkled his nose and demanded, ‘ _What_ is that _smell_?’

Of course, it was at that moment that Mikey decided to join them in the living area. He splayed out across the back of the couch before saying, ‘Dude, _rude_.’

Usagi didn’t refute this and simply glanced around the room again with a raised brow. ‘Glad as I am to be relieved of court duties, is there a reason you have brought me here?’

‘Uh, sorry, I didn’t mean to,’ Donnie admitted, pressing his middle fingers together. ‘I can send you right back,’ he said, walking over to retrieve the portal device from where it had landed. His expression changed once he’d had a chance to inspect the damage. ‘And by that I mean… eventually?’ he added, followed by a nervous chuckle.

Leo stepped into the room proper. ‘When is “eventually”, Donnie? Hours? Days?’

‘Probably days?’ he hazarded. Surprisingly, Usagi didn’t seem to be too concerned by this revelation. In fact, he seemed a lot less… uptight than when they’d last met.

‘ _I apologise for my brothers, Usagi-san. Please let us host you until this can be corrected_ ,’ Leo apologised formally, hoping his Japanese hadn’t gotten too much worse since they’d last met. The difference in historical eras hardly helped, either. And since he hadn’t had a chance to practice with his father or Karai in years, they would probably have to mostly rely on English.

Usagi seemed to appreciate his effort, either way. ‘It’s quite all right, I’d been growing bored,’ he began as he approached Leo. ‘And I can’t deny that I was curious about the world you came from.’ He seemed to be gravitating toward the tatami mats. Leo supposed it would be a comfort to see something he was used to amongst everything else.

‘Please make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right back.’ Leo turned to his brothers. ‘Mikey, Raph, find something Usagi can use as a bed. Donnie… just try to figure out what went wrong?’

Raph and Mikey disappeared without much fuss while Donnie looked down guiltily. ‘I honestly have no idea. That never happened in any of my tests!’

‘Well, maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time?’ Leo suggested as he moved through to the kitchen to prepare tea and cut up some vegetables. Serving him Mikey’s left over pizza just didn’t seem good enough.

Donatello shrugged before making his way back to his lab again. Leo turned his full attention to trying to be a good host, even though he didn’t really have much to work from. They hadn’t exactly had that many guests in their home growing up.

Leo looked for the best plates and cups they had while he waited for the tea to brew. He wasn’t really sure why he was trying so hard to impress the seemingly ex-ronin, but now that he’d been given the chance to socialise with him outside a mission, he didn’t want to waste it. There was a lot he could learn from the samurai about sword work, and he did miss having a teacher’s guidance. So maybe while he was here…

Leo returned to the dojo with a tray that held the plated up vegetables, the only two matching teacups they had, and the teapot. As he stepped through the doorway he saw Usagi was inspecting the shrine to his father from a respectful distance, hands clasped behind his back.

Leo admired the silhouette Usagi made in his formal attire again. He wished he could wear hakama without looking ridiculous, but the design of most clothing didn’t take the roundness of a shell into account. As he walked over to kneel by the low table he let his footfalls make noise when he realised Usagi might not have noticed his return.

The samurai bowed to the shrine before turning away to sit at the table with Leonardo. ‘Your father?’

Leo nodded. They had briefly talked about their families during the long nights by the campfire while traversing Usagi’s world. Though, Kintaro hadn’t exactly left them much time to get to know each other properly.

‘Things have been… difficult since he passed. Even after seven years I still…’ He tried to stop himself from blurting out his feelings, but it was difficult when he didn’t really have anyone else to confide in, at least not about this in particular. His brothers didn’t face or understand the pressure of leading and teaching the clan as a whole.

‘You have been struggling to manage your clan, Leonardo-san?’ Usagi asked, already seeming to know what he’d meant by his half statements.

‘I…’ he glanced away, but couldn’t exactly deny it. ‘I’m not my father. I can’t be both their sensei and leader.’

‘That makes sense,’ Usagi agreed, and paused to take a sip of tea. ‘Ordinarily a father would not double as a sensei, either. Yours is admirable for taking on both roles when needed, but there is no shame in admitting such a shortcoming. Few people have the ability to switch between mindsets at will.’

‘Thank you,’ Leo said quietly.

The look he gave him wasn’t exactly pity, but perhaps more empathy. ‘I have a son, and I would never be able to permanently take on that role myself, even though he doesn’t know the truth behind who I am.’

Leo wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but it was clear Usagi had moved on in life since they’d last met. ‘I’m sorry to have taken you from your new life. At least, I take it that you’re no longer a ronin?’

Usagi covered his momentary hesitation by biting into a carrot stick as he tried to decipher what he was really asking. ‘No, however controversial, I have settled in with another lord’s household. I thought that was what I wanted, though my days have become rather dull. I am now _yojimbo_ in the weakest sense of the word.

‘I did not know of my child’s existence until recently, so he already has two parents looking after him and will never know that I… Well, it’s for the best this way.’

‘I see,’ Leo replied neutrally. It reminded him of his human family’s history a little too much. ‘That must be difficult, all the same.’

Usagi inclined his head, but seemed unwilling to speak on that topic any further. ‘I thought a chance to work for an upstanding lord again was what I’d been searching for all this time, but it seems that’s not really the case.’

Leonardo shrugged. ‘Sometimes you can’t know these things until they actually happen.’

Usagi gave him a small smile. ‘Hai, sensei,’ he teased. Leo shot him a glare over the rim of his teacup. ‘Though, I wish I had have had some warning. Living in just one set of worn travelling clothes is one thing, but stiff court clothing quickly gets unbearable.’

‘Well, I don’t know if New York style would be to your taste, either,’ Leo joked.

‘What is that supposed to be, nudity?’ Usagi asked with a raised brow as his eyes flicked over him.

Embarrassed, for some reason, Leo was about to claim that it wasn’t the same when the dojo doors slid open. Raph entered the room and dumped a pile of blankets against the far wall.

‘No luck with scavenging an actual futon,’ he explained. ‘But Master Splinter’s is still in his room…’

Leo hesitated. It felt wrong, somehow, to offer that bed to someone else to sleep on. But it seemed Usagi had no problem with understanding both the English and the nuance.

‘It’s all right, the tatami are more than sufficient.’

‘Thanks Raph, we’ll sort something else out later if it looks like things are going to take more than a few days.’

Raph rolled his eyes. ‘Yeah, well, April and Casey followed us home so I don’t think much is going to get done today.’

Usagi looked up and through the shoji doors, quickly spotting them. They were clearly making a beeline for Donnie and his lab. ‘These are the humans you referred to?’

‘Yes, it’s not normal here for animals to have their characteristics like we do, I guess you could say,’ Leo explained. ‘But these two are like family to us. Let me introduce you.’

Usagi nodded and rose elegantly, his clothing seeming to remind him to move in a refined way. He followed Leo and Raph out of the dojo and into the living area.

‘Hi guys,’ Leo greeted as they paused to turn and look up in response to their movement. ‘We’ve had an interesting start to the day, but long story short, this is a friend of ours from another dimension, Miyamoto Usagi.’

April hid her smile with her hand and a nod. She knew of both the famous historical swordsman and the meaning of his name.

‘This is April O’Neil. She’s a kunoichi, also trained by our sensei, and she’s uh, courting Donatello.’

‘ _Hajimemashite,_ ’ she greeted with a small bow. ‘ _Douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu._ ’

Usagi returned the greeting with a slightly deeper bow, to Leo’s amusement and April’s consternation.

‘This is um… Casey Jones,’ Leo added, not sure what else to say. Casey generally derived great pleasure from loudly introducing himself, even when it wasn’t really called for.

‘Hey, samurai dude,’ he said with a small wave. Usagi also raised his hand in greeting. Leo was glad he didn’t seem to be offended by his blasé attitude.

Now that they’d been introduced, Donnie continued the explanation he’d clearly started giving April and Casey on the phone earlier. ‘It’s my fault this went wrong, so I need to fix it as a priority.’

‘Oh, but semester is starting next week. After this weekend I won’t have as much free time over the next few months.’

Leo doubted Usagi understood that she was referring to university, but he spoke up anyway. ‘It was quite a shock to suddenly find myself here, but there’s no need to hurry along with fixing it at the expense of all else. I would be glad to stay and learn more about your world for as long as you’re willing and able to provide me hospitality.’

His lenience surprised Leo a little, what with how he’d acted for most of their first encounter. But he was glad they would have more time.

‘Right, we were going to eat, and then Raph and I were going to patrol on the surface. It’s night time here now, which is usually when we’re most active since most humans find our existence frightening and unusual. Usagi, it might be best if we find you clothes to help you blend in before you go out,’ Leo added.

‘Of course. In any case, it was quite late in my world when I was transported,’ Usagi admitted. ‘I may turn in soon if that is all right.’

Leo nodded with a small smile. ‘We’ll save you something if you decide to eat later. So, Mikey, what have you made this time?’

Mikey took a deep breath to begin his exaggerated and no doubt amusing explanation. Leo was glad to hand over the spotlight.

* * *

 

Usagi had easily agreed to let the turtle brothers train together as they usually would. While he would like to have the option of going back to his world open, he could see that Donatello had enough on his plate at the moment as it was. And so far he hadn’t felt the need to hurry back any time soon.

Adjusting himself to the court life of an upper class family had been a rousing challenge at first, but two years later he was more than ready to move on, even if it wasn’t exactly acceptable for him to do so. Comments about him being a ronin for too long would be bandied about, and his love of money would be called into question, not that he was used to having any.

He sat on his knees in seiza at the back of the dojo and observed their training session. Despite what Leonardo had said about his difficulty with being the sensei, he was doing quite well with the session. The three younger brothers were taking turns pairing up and sparring at the moment, while the odd one out stood with Leonardo and analysed their styles.

Leonardo called _yame_ , and they lined up in seiza for a debrief on the session. Usagi tuned them out a little as his own memories of being a young warrior in training came to his mind. Now that he was in his early thirties, that felt like it had been a lifetime ago.

‘Are there any other questions?’ Leonardo asked with a note of finality in his voice that caught Usagi’s attention again.

‘Yeah,’ Michelangelo said, ‘why don’t you and Usagi spar? It’d be interesting to see the same weapon used in different ways.’ The other three gave Michelangelo a particular look. ‘What? It would!’

‘Yeah right,’ Donatello said with a laugh. ‘You just want to watch him wipe the floor with Leo after he made you spar with Raph five times in a row.’

Leonardo looked embarrassed, though Usagi could tell the barb had struck his pride. He glanced his way, causing the other brothers to turn and look back at him as well. He shifted uncomfortably now that he was suddenly the centre of attention.

‘I suppose I should do some training as well, instead of just sitting here,’ he replied, leaving room for Leonardo to back out if he wanted to. It was a delicate situation, and he didn’t want to upset the balance of respect Leonardo had garnered from his younger brothers by going too hard or too soft. That was assuming he could still best the ninja, of course.

‘All right,’ he replied with a nod. ‘You three are done,’ he dismissed them, but they simply moved to sit along the wall near the doorway of the dojo. Leonardo had clearly been hoping he’d get rid of at least some of them by saying that, but it seemed that wasn’t going to be the case.

‘Don’t worry Leo, I’ll take notes and give you the rundown later,’ Raph teased.

Usagi and Leonardo positioned themselves more centrally in the dojo and stood opposite each other, drawing their favoured sword. _‘Onegaishimasu,_ ’ they requested simultaneously.

Usagi couldn’t really gauge anything from the ninja’s position, so he decided to take the aggressive stance before he could use any of his tricks. “Hmm!” he grunted as he advanced with a simple overhead strike, the sound seeming to surprise Leonardo as much his sudden movement.

The ninja stepped aside easily and came at him from the side. Usagi met his first strike, and Leo used his superior strength to hold their position while he reached for his second blade. Usagi broke away at the last moment and tried to use the movement to disguise his intent to jam the hilt of his katana into Leonardo’s plastron.

But the ninja saw through this ploy, blocking him with one sword and twisting his blade out of his hand with the other. Usagi leapt back, trying to get near the weapons rack before Leonardo could take advantage of his vulnerable state. He reached down, not caring what he grabbed, and ended up with a bokken in each hand.

Leonardo hesitated for a moment, so Usagi aggressively moved back in. He’d fought for his life with less before, so wasn’t particularly worried about using bokken in their spar. Surprised again, Leonardo stumbled back and was distracted when he almost stepped on the sword he’d knocked out of Usagi’s grip earlier.

Usagi pressed the advantage and whacked Leonardo’s hands with the bokken now that he didn’t have to worry about cutting him or causing permanent damage. Leonardo cried out at the sharp pain in sensitive joints and tensed up, dropping his weapons. Usagi kicked him in the chest, his powerful legs easily knocking the turtle off his feet.

Usagi followed him to the ground and knelt on top of him, pushing the bokken against his airway, just enough to ensure he wouldn’t attempt to disappear from his hold before the spar could come to an end, but not enough to bruise. Leonardo reached for something in his belt, but relaxed again before he could fully withdraw the shuriken. They weren’t trying to kill each other, after all.

Usagi put the bokken aside and stood, helping pull Leonardo to his feet as well. He turned to the brothers when he felt their eyes on him. Usagi couldn’t quite decipher the looks on their faces, but it didn’t seem to be anything negative.

‘How long are you staying for, again?’ Michelangelo asked at last.

Suddenly, it became clear. They wanted him to teach them. ‘As long as I’m needed,’ he replied, glancing back at Leonardo.

Their leader was trying to cradle the knuckles of both of his hands at the same time. He gave him a soft smile. ‘Please help us learn more.’


	2. Settling

Leo dug through the reject waste bin, looking for clothing that would both help hide Usagi’s identity and match his sensibilities. He didn’t know that much about clothing since he and his brothers rarely wore it, but he thought he’d struggle to find something that was both as elegant and practical as hakama. In the end he settled for something on the practical side; a blue tracksuit with a hooded jumper.

‘Looks like Donnie bringing Usagi here was a happy accident after all,’ Mikey commented from the fire escape above, where he was on lookout. ‘I haven’t seen you look this happy since before Karai left.’

Leo rolled his eyes but couldn’t help but privately feel some creeping embarrassment. ‘What is _that_ supposed to mean? He’s been here for what, a day?’

‘I just think having him around the place will be good for you, is all,’ Mikey replied innocently as he made his way further up the fire escape to check the surrounding streets again.

Leo closed the dumpster now that he had scavenged the clothing and linen he’d been looking for. They’d been out looking for most of the night since he’d wanted things that were still wrapped in plastic, only thrown away because they couldn’t be sold. They couldn’t smell too awful when their guest had such a sensitive nose. And he’d also wanted to pick up the ink, brushes and paper Usagi had requested.

‘He has a kid, you know.’

‘Dude, don’t you watch April’s J-dramas? No, forget that, I _know_ you stay up and watch them with her. Especially the ones set in the Edo period.’ Leo felt himself turning red, but couldn’t deny it. They were addictive, damn it. ‘Usagi was probs a wakashu at some point. He’d be no stranger to love between dudes.’

Leo was tempted to smack him over the head for old time’s sakes. ‘We are not having this conversation, Michelangelo.’

‘Ugh, don’t try to go all _sensei_ on me. I’m just saying, you have a lot to offer each other. And… Usagi has a lot to offer the clan, too.’ He hopped away across a few rooftops, putting an end to any attempt Leo might have made to comment on that.

Instead he was left alone to wonder if maybe his brother did have a point. Or was the only thing he had another crazy idea?

* * *

 

Usagi woke in the dojo by the large tree. It seemed to be responsible for making things smell less in the room, so he hadn’t had a problem with being left to make his own bed on the dojo floor. His kataginu was still folded neatly on the floor where he’d left it before retreating under the covers the previous night. He stretched and shuffled over to sit where sunlight was streaming into the room.

It was hard to tell down here, but it still seemed to be quite early if his body clock was anything to go by. He suspected the mostly nocturnal turtle brothers wouldn’t be up for some time yet. Usagi brushed down his hakama, grimacing at the wrinkles he’d put in the fabric from sleeping in it again. But he didn’t want to sleep nude when his privacy wasn’t guaranteed, since anyone could enter the dojo at any time.

He still wasn’t entirely sure when they normally woke, but he felt he could manage to put breakfast together for everyone. After Donatello had explained what the refrigerator was to him, he was sure he could store it there until they were ready to get up. The kanji that made up the word in the more modern version of his language were also quite self-explanatory.

The concept of lightning in the kitchen tools still worried him a little, but he’d been shown how to use most of the things safely yesterday. And he would have to use them if he wanted to cook or make tea himself.

It was quite a bit later in the morning when Michelangelo followed his nose to the kitchen, where Usagi had put together a simple meal of rice, vegetables seasoned with sesame oil, eggrolls and green tea.

‘Hold on, I’ll go get Leo up. He won’t wanna miss this,’ the youngest turtle mumbled before turning right back around and disappearing down the hallway that seemed to contain the bedrooms once again. Usagi blinked in mild confusion at his sudden turn in attitude and odd phrasing, but served up three portions of the meal into the large bowls anyway, trying to keep the different foods separate.

Shortly after, a tired looking Leo was dragged into the kitchen behind Michelangelo, though he seemed to perk up a bit at the sight of the food. Usagi set the teapot down in the middle of the table once he’d finished pouring the three cups, and sat behind the nearest set meal.

‘I’d have thought you two would have been the last to get up after last night.’

‘Nah, not that much happened. Besides, Raph is probably off somewhere getting beaten up by Mona Lisa, and April, Casey and Donnie aren’t likely to emerge any time before midday,’ Mikey supplied as he dug right into the food.

Leo nudged his brother, but he didn’t seem to notice or care. Usagi just laughed shortly. ‘It’s all right Leonardo-san, we all show our appreciation in different ways.’

‘It’s good!’ Michelangelo said loudly, barely pausing to breathe.

Leo still looked mildly embarrassed. ‘ _Itadakimasu,_ ’ he said, before eating at a more reserved pace. ‘It really is,’ he said after he’d tried a little of everything.

Usagi offered a small smile as the praise warmed him from the inside out. He felt like some sort of housewife, given the circumstances. Though, the feeling was not itself a bad one. ‘I’m glad you like it,’ he replied.

‘Mikey and I managed to find the stuff you asked us to look for last night,’ Leo added. ‘It’s amazing what people will throw out in this city.’

‘Oh, really? You found ink and brushes here?’ Usagi asked before continuing his meal. He’d taken up _sumi e_ a few years ago and had been told he had a talent for it. It was as good a thing as any to amuse himself with while he couldn’t leave the confines of their home, though he hadn’t expected the tools to necessarily be easily available here.

‘The materials might not be quite what you’re used to, since they’re made of cheap plastic, but I thought it’d be better than nothing,’ Leo explained further.

‘I certainly appreciate the consideration,’ he assured.

Michelangelo was, predictably, the first to finish eating. He began to clean up without a fuss. The leftover food went into the refrigerator and then he started washing the dishes.

‘I also found some clothes that should fit you and disguise your identity should any humans catch sight of us.’ Usagi was obviously at greater risk of being spotted. ‘I’d like to take you up to the surface tonight and show you the city lights, and how tall the buildings are,’ Leo added, enthusiasm re-entering his voice.

‘I look forward to seeing more of your home,’ Usagi replied. He moved to gather up their empty dishes and assist Michelangelo, but Leo beat him to it. Instead, Usagi turned his attention to the strange entrance to their stranger home when he heard someone arrive.

It was Raphael returning from wherever he’d been. He didn’t look like he was all there, and Usagi thought there might be bruising on his face and arms.

‘Cutting it a bit fine, aren’t you?’ Leo called. ‘You do realise it’s the middle of the day, right?’ Leo walked past Usagi, but paused when he too spotted the bruising. ‘What happened?’

Raphael’s face turned red and he didn’t pause on his way to his room. ‘It was consensual,’ he said before slamming the door.

Leo sighed and rubbed his forehead. ‘Ok, don’t need to know anything else,’ he muttered. ‘But… I’m going to see if I can heal him at all. He is supposed to be on patrol duty tonight.’

Usagi nodded, not willing to pass judgement when he knew so little about the situation. ‘Some cold water should help bring down the swelling,’ he said, turning to the cupboard to look for the plastic bowl he’d seen earlier.

‘I, uh, don’t think Raph would appreciate your presence at the moment. Heck, he’s definitely not going to appreciate mine until I use the healing hands. It might be better if you stay here.’

Usagi nodded to his back as he left. Michelangelo reached past him to grab the remaining dirty dishes. ‘Don’t worry, Raph’s just pretty sensitive when you get to know him. This doesn’t happen very often, but sometimes he gets in a strange mood. It’s better just to let Leo sort it out. Come on, I’ll show you the things he spent so long looking for last night.’

Usagi followed Michelangelo into his oldest brother’s room, giving the room with the closed door a concerned look. He couldn’t help but wonder if this stemmed from a problem with the dynamics of their household.

* * *

 

Leo didn’t bother knocking. Raph wouldn’t be happy about it, but he had to know he was going to come in and bother him after all that. He caught the pillow before it could smack him in the face, and was only thankful that it wasn’t something heavier or sharper this time. Leo let it drop to the floor as he pulled the door shut behind him for privacy.

Raph didn’t look up from where he was leaning over his bedside table, scratching Chompy’s head with one finger. Chompy had nearly doubled in size since they’d first found him, but that still made him tiny in comparison. It still wasn’t entirely clear what the little guy ate, but Donnie theorised he either lived off rocks or heat energy, somehow. They made sure to let him sit in the sun as much as possible after that, and also kept him away from chewing on concrete.

‘Spare me the details, but are you sure you’re all right? You were supposed to go on patrol tonight.’ Leo sat next to him a little further down the bed and reached out to rub Chompy’s shell. Speaking indirectly like this always went better than confronting him directly.

Raph sighed heavily. ‘I’m fine, and I’ll be fine to go out tonight. I’m only late because I couldn’t get a worried Mona off my shell either.’

Leo rolled his eyes, but was glad they were at least trying to look after each other. ‘Why do you always have to push things so far? Here, at least let me try and get the swelling to go down a bit so you can sleep properly.’

Raph grunted but didn’t outright reject his help. Leo formed the familiar hand seals, much faster with the technique these days, and pressed a hand over his brother’s face and shoulder where the worst of the injuries were. It was a relief to see the bruising fade and the swelling go down a bit. Once he was satisfied, Leo pushed himself to his feet.

‘Thanks, Leo.’

Leo had been intending to cross the room, but paused for a moment. ‘Just… get some sleep.’

He left the room quietly and made his way through to the dojo, guessing that was where Mikey and Usagi had ended up. But when he arrived, only Usagi was there. He’d changed into the tracksuit and thick socks they’d found. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows while he painted with the ink, brushes and ream of paper they’d given him.

Leo approached, making sure to make his presence known before getting too close, just in case. Usagi glanced back up at him when he was close enough to look over his shoulder. A few different paintings were spread over the table, all of them variations of the tree in the middle of the dojo.

‘Woah, amazing,’ Leo complimented.

‘Michelangelo told me you can use ninjutsu to heal others?’ Usagi sought confirmation, avoiding having to respond to the compliment. ‘I’d say that’s what’s amazing.’

Leo rubbed the back of his head bashfully. ‘I was told I had a talent for it,’ he echoed Usagi’s earlier comment.

‘Is it something that anyone can learn?’ he asked, finishing off a line before putting his brush down on the newspaper Mikey had dug up from somewhere for him.

‘Yes,’ Leo replied with a nod, glad he’d have something to offer him after all. And maybe an excuse to ask him to stay longer. ‘I’d be happy to teach you something in return.’

‘About that… My adeptness comes from being a professional student of martial arts for most of my life. I am hesitant to reveal all my secrets to a clan that is not my own, of ninja, no less. But, _swapping_ secrets might be a different matter.’

Leo gave an understanding nod and a small smile of amusement. ‘I’m sure we’ll manage something.’


	3. Lights

Usagi was glad he hadn’t had to chase Leo up too many buildings on their way to the spot he wanted to show him. While constantly wielding his favoured weapons gave him good upper body strength, it was nothing compared to what it took to treat a vertical wall as though it was just another floor, like the ninjas did.

They’d had a slow start to their adventure, what with Usagi being distracted by everything from the bright graffiti on the alleyway walls to the seemingly impossible height of the buildings in the middle distance. After Leo had had to remind him that he couldn’t just walk around in the streets like a normal person one time too many, they had taken to the rooftops instead.

Now here they were, almost at the top of the business building Leo had been leading him to, clinging to the wall with his sharp nails and shivering in the strong wind. He watched Leo’s legs and shell disappear over the edge above him and grit his teeth with determination, trying to forget how far up they were. The “tracksuit” admittedly made it easier to manoeuvre himself in this situation.

Leo’s head reappeared and he reached down to help him up. Pulling himself up over the edge would be the hardest part of the climb, after all. Usagi grabbed the offered hand, not wanting to let his pride get in the way of his safety, and repositioned his feet so he could use his stronger legs to walk himself up the wall.

The strange material of the shoes he’d been given squeaked as his feet pressed more firmly into the side of the building. It took some effort, but he finally made it up and over the edge. They both laughed quietly even though they were both panting for breath.

‘Phew, made it!’ Leo exclaimed.

‘Only just,’ Usagi joked lightly. He glanced down and only then became aware that Leo still had a gentle hold on his hand. Leo noticed his line of sight and quickly withdrew his grip.

‘Anyway, this is what we came all this way for!’ he said, quickly turning away and pointing to the other side of the building.

Even in the dark Usagi could see the blush spreading over his face, and he was quite sure it wasn’t just from exertion. That was certainly… something.

Usagi followed Leo to the other side of the building’s precarious rooftop. It wasn’t the tallest one around, but they were least likely to see someone else up here, since it wasn’t exactly made for the building residents to walk around on.

As he reached the other side of the rooftop he slowed, eyes widening in wonder at the sight before him. The lights shone bright from every building and along every street. The river stretched out in front of them, made even more beautiful by the countless lights reflecting off its surface. It reminded him of something from an Obon festival, where lanterns would be set to float down a river.

‘Nice, right?’ Leo commented with his usual gentle smile.

Usagi nodded as he leaned out over the railing to look straight down. Leo’s hand twitched as though he wanted to push him back and make sure he wouldn’t fall, but he aborted the movement when it was obvious the samurai wasn’t about to do anything stupid. The fatigue in Usagi’s shoulders seemed to disappear as he gazed out over the beautiful view.

 _Worth it_ , he thought, as he’d heard Michelangelo say once before.

The two of them continued to gaze over the lit up city for some time. The silence between them was comfortable, peaceful. The strange sounds of the futuristic city were far away now, muted beneath the sound of the wind in his ears.

But sitting still on such a cool night for so long inevitably got to them. They decided to return by mutual agreement. Their conversation on the way back to the turtles’ underground home was light and sparse.

After Donatello explained the wonders of modern plumbing to him again on his way to the shower, but still wasn’t able to offer an accurate estimate of when the portal would be repaired, Usagi returned to the dojo in his hakama and kimono top. Leo had just finished cleaning out the dojo when he entered the room.

‘We’ll sort something better out for you by tomorrow night,’ he said, pointing at the pile of blankets and pillows rolled up against the wall. ‘Seems this is going to take a bit longer than we thought, and if you choose to stay longer, we should at least offer you something more comfortable.’

‘I’m comfortable enough for now, though I would like to stay longer term eventually, since it seems it would be valuable for both of us. Please don’t feel you need to rush.’

Leo shrugged and turned away. ‘Good night.’

Usagi returned the greeting before gently sliding the door shut behind him. While setting up his bed for the night, and then while trying to fall asleep, only one thing persisted in Usagi’s thoughts. Leo, with his gentle touch and softer smile. Usagi had felt this feeling before. For Mariko, in particular.

He was torn. Should he be contriving to extend his stay, or be fleeing while he still could?

* * *

 

Leo hesitated, not sure whether he should sit with Usagi at the front of the dojo or with his brothers as a student. Observant as ever, Usagi seemed to immediately notice his dilemma.

‘Perhaps it would be more appropriate if we all sat in a circle today. The teaching and learning will be going in all directions, I think,’ he explained. ‘I’ll give you something to consider in your own time, then I’d like you to teach me about throwing weapons.’

The turtle brothers exchanged looks, but looked to Leo for direction. ‘ _Shomen ni,_ ’ he said, kneeling in the line for a moment as they bowed to Master Splinter’s shrine in acknowledgement of where what part of what they’d be practicing today came from. He heard Usagi shuffle behind them, joining in their routine.

The five of them then shuffled around on their knees to form a rough circle. Usagi remained silent for a few moments longer, considering, before finally speaking.

‘There are things I could teach you, techniques you might not have seen or thought up for yourself yet. But I think all of you are well beyond that level of training. More important now, I think, is learning to embrace your true self. Become a well-rounded person, and therefore a well-rounded warrior.’

Leo knew if he had have said something like that, Raph would have complained loudly about his “woo woo”. As things were, he was glad he was at least hearing their guest out.

‘Of the four of you, I would say the most well rounded of you is…’ Usagi paused to consider this seriously, and Leo tried to ignore the way all of his brothers looked at him. ‘Well, it is not something easily quantified, but from what I know of you all so far, I would say it’s Donatello.’

This proclamation caused a stir of confusion.

‘I say this because he has constructive hobbies that are completely removed from ninjutsu, or any other kind of fighting, for that matter. However, I fear you might lose focus easily, whether that be on training or simply between all your projects. Unlike the others, your challenge is always to remember and focus on what is truly important to you.’

Donnie nodded. It wasn’t the first time he’d been told something like this, though Usagi approached it from a slightly different angle than Master Splinter had. Maybe that was the push he needed.

Mikey looked a bit confused. ‘I have plenty of hobbies, though. Reading comics, watching TV…’

‘I said _constructive_ hobbies,’ Usagi replied plainly. Raph snickered behind his hand at the bluntness that he hadn’t exposed his hosts to much yet. ‘It needs to involve self-improvement or creation without being obviously related to battle.’

Usagi turned his attention to Raph, wanting him to speak up next, it seemed. ‘Well, I look after Chompy?’ he supplied.

‘That’s a good start. But you might want to also take on something more self-centred. It is meant to restore your energy, not necessarily be draining all the time.’

Finally, Usagi turned his attention to him. Leo couldn’t think of a single thing he did that wasn’t for the purpose of improving his fighting skills in some way, and he supposed that was Usagi’s point, in the end. ‘I look after my brothers and watch TV, but as we already established, that doesn’t count.’

Usagi nodded and addressed the four of them. ‘Then, your homework is either to discover and begin practicing something that will restore you outside of the dojo, or to bring more focus on what does help you to do that. As you probably noticed by now, I enjoy _sumi e_ , and though it does help to train a steady hand in me, that is not the main reason I practice it. Any questions?’

‘Yeah, how is not fighting going to make us better at fighting again?’ Raph asked.

‘Everyone needs something to restore their energy and build their mental fortitude. The more you train at one time, the less effective the practice becomes. Instead of grinding ourselves down, we should return to the issue after a break. You need to look after your mind and body, or you will plateau forever.’

Raph sat back again, seemingly satisfied with his explanation, for now. ‘So that’s it for training for today then?’

‘Within the dojo? Yes,’ Usagi agreed. ‘But you are all welcome to join me in throwing weapons training.’

Raph shrugged. ‘May as well. Leo and Donnie are teaching this class, right?’

Usagi nodded and looked to Leo, sitting back into a slightly more relaxed posture now that he didn’t have four young men hanging off his every word.

‘All right,’ Leo said, standing and moving to the wooden targets he’d pulled out of storage for the session. The front wall of the dojo already had plenty of marks in it from when they were young and had learnt about throwing weapons for the very first time. But Usagi might not be a complete beginner, and having something to actually aim for always helped measure success.

‘First thing’s first, let’s look at the shuriken themselves,’ Donnie interrupted, pulling out three stars and placing them on the ground in front of Usagi.

Leo preferred to just feel out the weight and shape and use his instincts, but for all he knew the samurai would prefer the much more precise explanation his brother was about to unload, so he sat back and let him take it away.

‘Now, as you can see, these are crafted carefully so that they all weigh within about five grams of each other, with the median weight being…’

Leo tuned out quickly, and found some amusement in the way Usagi’s frown deepened the longer Donatello’s explanation went on. He reached out to pick up one of the shuriken and weigh it up in his hand as he continued talking about mathematical concepts the samurai may not have been exposed to before.

When Donnie seemed like he was starting to run out of steam, Usagi spoke up. ‘I don’t mean to offend you Donatello, but your words are going right over my head now. Might I do some learning by doing before we pick this back up?’

‘Oh, right, I suppose you don’t need to know all of that before you even give it a try,’ he admitted sheepishly. ‘Though I would’ve liked it if someone had explained all that to me when I was learning…’

‘You _can_ just tell him to shut up,’ Raph said as he returned from checking that the targets were positioned securely.

‘Unlike you, some people have a sense of decorum,’ Donnie snapped. He moved over to Raph and Mikey, clearly intent on lording it over his brother while he had the chance.

Leo rolled his eyes and met Usagi’s mildly amused look with one of his own. ‘Anyway, personally I just like to feel out the size and weight myself before attempting to throw anything. Don’t worry too much if you miss the targets, the walls are well marked from countless training sessions.’

Usagi gathered up the three shuriken he’d been given and followed Leo to the other side of the dojo, closer to the targets, but being sure to stay on one side of the room to avoid being hit by the others’ rather more rambunctious training. Leo inspected the way Usagi was holding the shuriken as he prepared to throw it, and automatically reached out to correct the position of his thumb.

‘Um, the weight will be distributed better this way,’ Leo explained when the samurai turned an intense look on him in response to his touch. He didn’t know why he suddenly felt so self-conscious. He couldn’t seem to keep his hands to himself lately, always reaching out and holding on. ‘But maybe it’s better if I just let you see that for yourself,’ he added quickly, taking a step back. Part of his awareness remained on what his brothers were doing with their weapons.

Usagi raised his hand to throw, but then hesitated again at the last moment. ‘Like this? Show me.’

Leo’s brow rose at the blatant invitation, but he eagerly stepped forward to reposition Usagi’s arm and walk him through the throwing motion he personally preferred. While the task was absorbing, especially with the how bad his student’s aim was, he still had an awareness of what was going on around him.

And he was sure Michelangelo knew very well that he’d noticed the kissy faces he was making behind them. He just hoped Usagi hadn’t.


	4. Water

Usagi hadn’t been expecting hot flames to singe his ankles while he made breakfast. He might have been wandering around the kitchen still half asleep before that, but he certainly wasn’t now. He picked Chompy up and held him at arm’s length, since getting fire in his face would be even worse.

The small turtle-like creature simply wriggled in his hands, looking pleased with himself. He seemed to be particularly interested in the jar of rocks on the other end of the bench. As Usagi approached it he only grew more excited.

‘Is this what you eat?’ he asked quietly, hesitantly reaching down to scratch the creature’s head as he’d seen the various turtle brothers do so.

He removed a stone from the jar, then placed both it and Chompy on the benchtop, far away from the food he was preparing. The creature snapped up the rock quickly, immediately sniffing around for more when he was done.

‘I can’t give you any more than that. I don’t know what you’re supposed to be eating,’ Usagi explained, though he doubted the small one capable of understanding.

‘It’s all right, that’s his usual breakfast,’ Raphael said from behind him as he entered the kitchen area. Usagi was sure this was the first time he’d beaten his brothers getting up in the morning. ‘Sorry, I lost track of him,’ he added as he made his way over to Chompy.

Raphael hunched over the end of the bench and began feeding Chompy more of the rocks, holding them out one by one. Usagi glanced at him out the corner of his eye as he finished preparing breakfast, glad to see the bruising was almost non-existent now. The silence between them persisted, but Usagi didn’t feel like he was being ignored or pushed away. If anything, it was companionable.

Some part of him was still surprised by the way he treated the small turtle-like creature as though it was the most precious thing in the world. But he didn’t have much time to reflect on this when Mikey bounded into the room, cheery despite the early hour.

‘Usagi! I’ve been meaning to ask, can you show me how you make those egg roll things?’ He leaned a little too close to the pan where the oil was heating, making Usagi want to reach out and hold him back.

‘Of course, though we don’t have all the ingredients I’d usually use,’ he explained instead. He held out the bowl of whisked eggs and demonstrated how much of each ingredient he put into it, explaining what he’d be adding on top of it if he had it.

Soon enough Mikey was spreading the eggs in the pan and rolling them like he’d been doing it all his life. His stuck his tongue out the corner of his mouth in concentration, much like his more technically-minded brother tended to.

‘So, anyway, how are you enjoying your stay?’ Michelangelo asked, seemingly innocuous. Raphael seemed to become even stiller than he was already, listening intently.

‘Considering it wasn’t exactly planned, or optional, quite well.’

Raphael frowned at his response, but quickly turned his face away so Usagi couldn’t read his expression clearly. He couldn’t help but feel he was failing some sort of test, but he wasn’t going to lie either.

‘You and Leo seem to get along really well,’ the youngest brother added. ‘He seems to really like… your company.’

‘Well, he does seem lonely,’ Usagi admitted. Though he didn’t mean anything negative by the statement, Raphael clenched his fists and took half a step in his direction. A spike of adrenaline coursed through Usagi at the perceived threat, but Michelangelo reached across him and held his spatula up like a stop sign. It seemed to do the trick, for now.

‘Yeah, his last… close friend… flew back to her home country without much warning or explanation a few years ago. Since he’s not human, he can’t catch a plane. She went somewhere he can’t follow, y’see?

‘So, I guess what I’m trying to ask is, are you really going to keep coming back after Donnie fixes the portal? It’s fine if you just want to go home and forget about this, but if you stay, I’m pretty sure Leo’s gonna…’ He hesitated to finish his thought, but Usagi thought he could see where this was going, and he was glad he didn’t say it.

‘I would never intentionally do anything to hurt any of you,’ he assured.

‘Then you might want to tell Donnie you’re not mad at him,’ Mikey said, turning suddenly to begin dishing up the breakfast Usagi was halfway through making. ‘We’ve got this.’

Usagi nodded his assent. He was uncertain about his own feelings, but didn’t want that to lead to more hurt when the ninja still seemed to be recovering from the last time. He didn’t need his brothers’ gentle threats to come to that conclusion.

Usagi knocked on the heavy door to the lab, deciding those thoughts could wait for later. Donatello looked mildly confused and a little wary when he opened the door, but his expression smoothed out again when he saw who it was.

‘Sorry, I thought Mikey was trying to prank me or something by actually knocking instead of barging in,’ he explained quickly. ‘I think I’m just about done fixing the portal. Just need to run a few more tests to make sure we don’t have the same issue again. Seems it somehow responded to me actually saying your name before using it, though it’s not entirely clear how or why, unless I failed to airgap it from Metalhead 2.0’s AI properly…’ He trailed off when he realised Usagi wasn’t fully following the explanation.

‘As I said, it’s fine to take as long as you need. I’m not angry with you, and I understand you have other responsibilities to your family.’ Usagi felt oddly forward putting it that way, but he felt Donatello would find a way to misinterpret what he said if he didn’t put it clearly.

Donatello sighed deeply, sounding tireder than someone his age had any right to. ‘I’ve done a lot worse to people with a lot less, that I’m still trying to make up for,’ he replied enigmatically.

‘As long as you are trying to fix what went wrong, that’s all anyone can really ask,’ he replied.

Donatello seemed to be distracted by something behind him all of a sudden, so Usagi turned to look and saw that Leo had emerged from his room. From the way he quickly looked away when Usagi met his eye, he guessed he’d overheard at least part of their conversation on his way in.

‘Since Michelangelo has wrested the responsibility of putting breakfast together away from me, it should be just about ready now. You should join,’ Usagi said.

‘Oh, right… It’s that time already,’ Donatello muttered, looking down at the small shell-like object he seemed to carry everywhere. ‘I’ll join you all in a minute,’ he promised before retreating back into his lab.

Usagi made his way back to the dining area. ‘Good morning,’ Leo greeted when he sat next to him. ‘We’re taking a trip to go swimming today,’ he explained. ‘Do you want to come?’

Usagi narrowed his eyes. ‘Swim? Down here? Is that safe?’

Leo smiled wide, obviously trying to not laugh out loud. ‘The water where we’re going is totally clean, I promise,’ he vowed. ‘Generally we have to be careful of that too, you know. We are half human, after all.’

Usagi wasn’t entirely sure what that had to do with anything, but decided to believe them for now.

* * *

 

Usagi wished the scarf over his nose and mouth would do more to block out the awful smell of the city’s waste system. He found himself growing sceptical of how there could be any uncontaminated water down here, but could only trust the turtles’ judgement.

Donatello stifled another yawn behind him, while Michelangelo bounced along in front of him, energy still high. Usagi wondered if Leo was taking them so far just to wear their youngest out. Raphael and Leo were leading the group through the tunnels, occasionally arguing over the best route to take to the swimming spot.

It was almost noon by the time they arrived. A thin stream of sunlight filtered into the pool through the grating above, but it was still too dark and distant for anyone to look down and spot them. Usagi guessed the water was quite deep, though it was difficult to see for certain. Donatello perked up a little behind him, seemingly glad to be able to deliver another explanation about the technology of the modern world.

‘Recycled water gets filtered and treated multiple times before it’s deemed safe to drink again,’ he began. Usagi noticed his brothers were now quickly making their escape to the other side of the large, round pool without them. ‘This is the halfway point. It’s already been treated well enough, but it doesn’t matter if we swim in it because it’s going to be treated again for safety’s sake.’

He was slightly relieved when he realised this was as technical as the explanation was going to get this time. ‘Oh, I see. But what does it mean to recycle water?’

‘Well… you know how we have flushing toilets here?’

Usagi’s hands tightened around the straps of the pack he was carrying with extra towels and a change of clothes in it. It could be difficult for him to get dry after being drenched with all his fur. Regardless, he wasn’t sure he needed to hear the rest of that explanation.

‘I think I understand,’ he replied shortly.

He noticed the other three turtle brothers were already removing their gear and weapons, piling them up away from the edge of the pool. Donatello sat on the concrete slab beside them and pulled some reading material out of his bag. It seemed they were going to take turns watching their things, even though the area seemed to be well hidden.

They dumped their weapons and pads in a pile, but folded their masks carefully and left them on the slab next to Donatello. Leo tackled Raphael by the edge of the water and they both dropped in with a loud splash, Raphael’s yell of rage being cut off before it could really start as they both sank under the surface. Michelangelo sighed and shook his head, as if he were any more mature and responsible than the others, then sat carefully at the edge of the pool, his feet dangling into the water. A split second later he was dragged under as well.

‘This is why I always volunteer to take the first shift,’ Donatello said, closing his book long enough to let the drops of water from the splash fleck across the waterproof cover, and then returning to the page he was on when it was safe.

Usagi hesitated before removing his own clothing. He wasn’t sure what was acceptable in this situation. Unlike the others, not all of his genitalia was naturally hidden inside his body, so he wasn’t sure if this really counted as skinny-dipping.

‘Don’t worry, they won’t drag you under. They know better than to do that to a mammal,’ Donatello added, misinterpreting the reason for his hesitation.

He decided to leave his fundoshi on, and risk the walk back becoming uncomfortable without it. It really needed to be cleaned properly, anyway. He’d hardly come close to his record for longest time spent in the same underclothes, but it was getting a bit ridiculous considering he had all the needed amenities to wash them on hand.

Usagi removed his hakama and folded it carefully before undoing the ties on his kimono and undershirt. It was cold down here, what with the lack of proper sunlight, but not unbearably so. He continued facing the wall so he could rearrange his fundoshi with some semblance of privacy. He tightened it to avoid getting waterlogged before making his way to the edge of the water.

Despite what Donatello had said, he still approached cautiously, since none of the three had resurfaced again yet. He didn’t need to worry so much about that since they were built for this, but he couldn’t help it because he clearly was not. He squinted into the water as he knelt at the edge, but couldn’t see very far down.

He reached out a hand and felt the water was quite cold. He decided to get the discomfort over with by entering the water with a pin drop. His downward trajectory slowed as he spread his limbs under the water, then he opened his eyes. Leo was looking up at him from the depths below. It seemed Michelangelo and Raphael were elsewhere in the dark depths.

Leo tilted his head questioningly and made some sort of sign with his hand. When it seemed he didn’t understand, Leo tried a different sign, pulling his hand across his chest. Usagi only guessed he was asking whether he was all right based on the context. He nodded and looked up, swimming back to the surface now that his lungs were beginning to protest.

Usagi trod water while he took a few breaths to recover. Getting dry again after this was going to be entertaining, he was sure. But it had been so long since he’d done something like this for fun. Leo surfaced in front of him, barely disturbing the water, and reminding him that their ninjutsu didn’t just apply on land.

‘Are you all right?’ Leo reiterated out loud now that he could.

‘Yes, just a bit of a shock to the system,’ he replied, flicking his head in an attempt to clear the water that was gathering in his brows and dripping into his eyes. ‘It’s been a long time since I’ve done something like this, since it’s so hard for me to dry off.’

‘All right, if Mikey or Raph bother you just let me know,’ Leo replied with a small smile as he disappeared underwater again.

Usagi wasn’t entirely sure how he was supposed to do that when he couldn’t even see any of them most of the time. Nonetheless, he began practicing a rusty swimming stroke across the pool of water. He’d never been a strong swimmer, but he had to be prepared should the need arise outside his leisure time.

The brothers resurfaced occasionally, and at one point Mikey utterly defeated him in a splash war. To their credit, they were patient with him and left him be when it became obvious their games were getting too much for him. It seemed Leo was keeping good on his word.

When Leo relieved Donnie from watch duty, Usagi decided to exit the water as well. He sat on the edge of the pool and flicked his hands in an attempt to make them at least slightly drier than the rest of him. He turned when he heard Leo approach him and was glad to take the towel he was offering.

‘Thank you.’

He dried his hands before attempting to squeeze water out of his ears and reduce the amount of it in the fur on his face. He glanced up after drying his face in the towel as best he could, only to find Leo was still staring down at him. He could understand curiosity, but he looked like a drowned rat at the moment. Not that he’d put it that way, knowing who his father had been.

‘Um, you need another towel?’ Leo tried to cover when he seemed to realise what he was doing.

‘As a seasoned traveller, the answer to that is always yes,’ Usagi joked as he stood. He didn’t miss the way Leo’s line of sight dropped down his body before he turned away.

‘Well, lucky we brought plenty.’

Usagi sat on the concrete slab and reached into his own pack for the comb he’d brought with him to help get the water back off of him again.

‘Do you need any help?’ Leo asked.

Usagi didn’t answer right away. Help would make things easier and quicker, but he couldn’t ignore the intimacy in the gesture when it’d been made very clear to him what Leo’s feelings were growing into. Did he want help, and everything that would come with it?

Usagi turned away so Leo could sit behind him with the towel. ‘Yes, please. You can start back there.’

Leo laughed and sat, draping the towel across his shoulders and trying to wipe him down. Usagi used the comb to help manage the slightly thicker and longer hair on his chest, trying to think how to word his needs.

‘That’s only going to do so much. You’re going to have to do something more like this,’ he explained, rubbing the towel in his fur right down to his skin. He supposed it looked harsh, but it felt almost felt pleasant to him.

‘Ok, I’ll try. I’m worried about pulling your hair or something,’ Leo admitted, but pressed his fingers wrapped in the towel against him more firmly. He ran his hand through the section of fur he’d just dried and Usagi tried to not visibly stiffen. ‘Still damp though.’

‘I think I’m going to be slightly damp for the rest of the afternoon. Too bad I can’t sit in the sun down here.’

Leo made a contemplative noise as he continued drying him down, slowly moving further down his back. ‘We should take you out to the farm house next time you come back. It’s probably more what you’re used to, and it’s isolated enough that we can generally walk around like normal. But, for now, there should be some sun under a grate further up the tunnels. You can sit up there until the others are ready to leave.’

‘That does sound good,’ Usagi conceded.

Leo put the towel aside and made his way to the water’s edge. ‘I’m going to take Usagi somewhere he can try and get dry. Take over for a few?’ he asked Raphael, who was nearest.

Raphael gave Usagi a long look before nodding at his brother. ‘Got it.’

Usagi stood and gathered the two towels and his clothes, which he might actually get dry enough to be able to change into some time soon. He had to get closer to the pool to get to the other side of the tunnel they were in, and that was when Michelangelo burst out of the water, sending a wave in his direction.

Leo pushed him back and managed to help him keep dry by using his body as a shield. ‘That’s enough out of you,’ Leo said, pointing at his youngest brother. He only laughed loudly in response. Leo sighed and led Usagi toward the tunnel that went a little closer to the surface.

Once they were out of sight and earshot, Leo seemed to deflate a little. ‘That was close.’

‘My saviour,’ Usagi replied dryly.

Leo just rolled his eyes as they turned down another tunnel. Usagi could see the promised sunshine coming in through the grate ahead.

‘I’ll make sure Prankenstein behaves himself.’ He paused by the patch of sunlight and looked up. ‘It’s pretty unlikely anyone will look down and see you. There’s only a small dead end alley above us. Anyway, I’ll come get you when we leave, or if you’re brave enough, just come back the way we came.’

‘I understand,’ Usagi replied with a nod. ‘Thanks again.’

Leo just shrugged slightly and waved as he made his way back to his brothers. Usagi lay one of the towels on the ground and stretched out in the sun. Maybe things weren’t so bad down here after all.


	5. Telephone

Leo sat on the edge of the dojo floor, watching Usagi and Raph square up yet again. His brother seemed to be determined to best the samurai in ground training at least once. They were doing _randori_ on their knees to reduce the chance of fall injuries and to force them both to use techniques they wouldn’t normally.

Usagi shifted to the side, his deep frown not wavering as he focused on finding the right angle to turn Raphael’s momentum against him. Once again, it was only a few moments before his brother was flipped onto his shell.

‘You may have more upper body strength than me, but that doesn’t mean you can overpower me,’ Usagi reminded again. ‘I’m pretending to show a weakness and you’re falling for it every time.’

Raph let out a sharp breath of air, clearly frustrated with himself more than anything. Instead of moving into the ready position this time, he bowed out. ‘Thanks for kicking my ass, I guess.’

Usagi snorted. ‘If it makes you feel better, you only have to thank me for explaining how I’m kicking it.’

Raph let out a small sound of amusement, but was still clearly frustrated. He closed the door of the dojo behind him, leaving the two of them alone at last.

Leo had been waiting for his brothers to finish asking Usagi their questions so he could focus on sword work, but Usagi was looking tired after so many rounds of _randori_. Leo felt it wasn’t the best idea to ask for more training now.

‘Raphael can be very persistent,’ Usagi commented as he stood and brushed down his hakama. He undid the strip of material he’d used to tie his sleeves back, an obvious sign that he was done with training.

‘You’re telling me,’ Leo muttered, also getting to his feet. He crossed the room to stand beside Usagi as he bent down to begin preparing his bedding for later.

As Leo opened his mouth to say something else, he thought he heard something shuffle across the tatami behind them. He whipped around to take a look. Strangely there wasn’t anything there, even though he could have sworn he’d also heard a slosh of water…

Usagi leapt away from him and Leo turned sharply again, only to find Mikey throwing a bucket of water where Usagi had been a moment ago. Fortunately his victim had been nimble enough to escape a watery fate, but unfortunately that meant the futon they’d just dug up for him was now soaking wet.

‘Mikey!’ Leo scolded. ‘What are you doing?’

Mikey hid the bucket behind his back and tried to sidle away. ‘Just testing! You only half passed!’

Leo growled softly and dug his finger into the pressure point under his brother’s jaw. He was kind of impressed that his baby brother had almost managed to sneak up on them while holding a full bucket of water, but now wasn’t the time to show it.

‘Ow, owww!’ Mikey whined as he was led out of the dojo. Leo released him when they were by the TV, out of earshot. Mikey immediately clasped his hand over the sore spot. ‘Come on, dude. I’m trying to do you a favour,’ he hissed.

Leo felt himself begin to turn red, but continued to glare. ‘ _What_ are you talking about?’

‘Well, he’s leaving in the morning anyway. Where’s he gonna sleep, hmm? Be a good host and let him bunk with you!’

Leo folded his arms and felt his mouth draw into a thin line. ‘No, _you_ are going to sleep on the floor, and _you_ are going to offer your bed as an apology. _And_ you’re going to change your damn sheets first!’

Mikey grumbled and turned away, hopefully to do just that. Leo turned back to find Usagi was hauling the soaked bedding out of the dojo to avoid permanent damage to the tatami. ‘And bring back some towels, too,’ Usagi called after his brother.

‘Yeah, yeah,’ Mikey’s voice came from the other end of the hall, faint now.

Leo and Usagi shared an exasperated look, and then a small smile.

* * *

 

Leo was tying his mask around one of his bedposts, the usual end of his bedtime routine, when he heard his door open behind him. He turned to see Usagi standing there, closing the door behind him.

‘Everything ok?’ Leo asked, feeling nervous all of a sudden.

‘It seems Michelangelo has decided to go to bed early,’ Usagi replied. ‘Looks like we’re back to Plan A.’

‘I doubt he’s really asleep, I can get him to move,’ Leo replied, making his way over to the door.

Usagi splayed a hand across his plastron to stop him from getting any closer. ‘I don’t have a problem with this arrangement if you don’t.’

Leo stared up at him, flush rising under his skin. He couldn’t help but feel his answer to that comment would hold a lot of weight. It would affect how they related to each other from this point on.

‘I guess I don’t.’

Usagi considered him for a few long moments, then finally nodded. ‘You were just about to go to sleep, yes?’

‘Yeah.’

Usagi turned off the light and Leo turned to pull the covers back so they could get in bed. He crawled in against the wall and lay down to face it, wondering if they’d really both be comfortable in a single. He could hear Usagi moving around behind him, and then there was the rustle of clothing as he removed his hakama and outer kimono top.

Leo’s heart thudded in his chest when his companion’s weight sank into the mattress. The covers shifted as they were pulled up.

‘Perhaps I should bring my own blanket next time,’ Usagi commented lightly as he lay on his back.

‘Oh well, it’s not that cold tonight,’ Leo replied softly. Warm blooded and furry mammal that he was, Usagi felt like a space heater next to him even though they were barely touching. ‘Good night.’

‘ _Oyasumi_ , Leo.’

* * *

 

Leo’s eyes snapped open with a gasp. His breaths were coming fast like he’d been in combat for hours instead of asleep. He couldn’t recall his dream clearly this time, thankfully, but he knew it had been the Shredder who’d come back to haunt him again. Judging from the warm, fur covered body resting beside him, whatever he’d been doing in response to the dream had made his father concerned.

Something struck him as intensely wrong about the last thought. He froze when reality came crashing down around him once more.

Leo was clutching the front of Usagi’s undershirt, his face buried in the fur on his chest. Perhaps more surprising was the fact he was hugging him in return, one hand on his shell and the other gently supporting the back of his head.

Leo sighed and relaxed slowly. He would be too embarrassed to ever say it out loud but he loved the feel of Usagi’s fur against his smoother skin.

Leo jumped again when his phone started ringing on his bedside table. He picked it up to see it was bright and early. 8 a.m. may as well be the middle of the night to him, though. He noticed the person calling him at this uncomfortable hour was none other than Karai.

Leo continued to hesitate to answer, even though if this had have happened a few short weeks ago he’d have snatched it up halfway through the first ring. He saw Usagi frown in annoyance and rub his tired eyes, and that pushed him to actually answer despite the emotion swirling in his gut.

‘Karai?’ he asked, moving to lay back on the bed instead of continuing to reach across his companion. Usagi readjusted his hold on him, getting close but comfortable once again. It made the call easier, somehow.

‘Leo,’ she replied quietly.

He waited, knowing she had probably made this call on an impulse and was now trying to think of how to word what she wanted to say. If he was lucky he might even finally get a proper apology.

‘I’m just about to get on a flight back to New York,’ she said eventually.

This time it was Leo’s turn to draw out the silence. That wasn’t quite where he’d been expecting this conversation to go. ‘How long are you staying for? Do you have somewhere to go?’

‘I don’t know, and I was planning to visit you and your brothers first. We… You and I need to talk in person.’

Leo closed his eyes and frowned. She couldn’t be serious. ‘Tell me when you arrive, someone will pick you up. Casey and or April.’

She remained silent again as she processed that he wouldn’t be there to meet her, even if he would’ve had to hide in the car until she left the airport. ‘Ok… thanks.’ It seemed she had grown up a bit, after all.

‘See you when you get here.’

After a short sound of affirmation, Leo heard her hang up. He put the phone beside his side of the pillow to avoid disturbing Usagi again. But it seemed his companion was now wide awake anyway.

‘Who was that?’ he asked quietly.

‘Karai. She’s… an old friend?’ Romantic interest, sort of a sister, he wasn’t sure how to explain such a complicated relationship.

‘It has been a long time since you’ve heard from her, correct? Will you be all right with her coming to visit?’

‘I think so,’ Leo replied. ‘You’ll be back again soon though, won’t you?’

Usagi hummed, making his chest vibrate slightly against Leo’s head. ‘If all goes well and my lord grants me leave from my duties, I will only be gone for a few days. But if not, things may become a little more complicated, since I will need to prepare for a longer stay. It could take a few weeks for me to sort out my affairs. I have a feeling it will likely be the latter.’

It hurt to say, but Leo was used to being the responsible one and putting himself last. ‘You’re not under any obligation to return, you know. I would understand.’

The rough pads of Usagi’s fingers traced the edge of his face. ‘I have every intention of returning and finding out more about us. Besides, I don’t think Michelangelo would let me get away with that.’

Leo laughed out loud at that. The difficult conversation had dampened his mood, but now he was feeling a little lighter. ‘No, I don’t suppose he would.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't going to put Karai in this one at first, but it's hard to write a slow burn romance when the plot outside of it is so limited D:


	6. FIFO

It was mid-morning by the time everyone had gathered in the living area to wish Usagi farewell for now. Mikey was sitting in the middle of the floor, chipping away at a block of concrete. Leo wasn’t entirely sure what he was trying to make, all he could see was that his brother wasn’t exactly living up to his namesake. But he seemed to be enjoying himself, at least.

Usagi had packed the few possessions he’d accumulated since arriving into a spare storage container and left it in a corner of the dojo. The now dry bedding was laid out in preparation for Karai’s arrival. Fully dressed in the court clothing he’d arrived in, Usagi looked ready to return.

‘Here,’ Leo said, holding out a pack that wasn’t too conspicuously not of the samurai’s time period. ‘If you think you’ll be travelling, you should take water and food to make things a bit easier.’

Usagi nodded and accepted the field pack. Leo had also included firelighters, matches, a multipurpose knife and some rope, but had hidden it at the bottom since it was more modern technology. He was sure Usagi would discover that for himself soon enough.

Donnie held out a device that looked like a T-phone, but unlike the others, it was supposed to be able to communicate with the receiver across dimensions. ‘So, when you’re ready to come back, you just have to turn it on and call the number that’s already saved in the phone,’ Donnie continued his explanation now that he had their attention again. ‘You remember how to do all that?’

‘Yes,’ Usagi replied. He had to have been shown about three times now. He went through the steps again to assuage Donnie’s worries.

‘All right, just remember to turn it off when you don’t need it. You don’t need the battery of your only ticket back going flat.’

‘I understand,’ he assured.

Donnie nodded and turned away to place the actual portal device on the ground. Sensing that their time was almost up, Usagi turned back to Leo and spoke quietly. It helped that Raph and Casey being noisy on the other side of the room was distracting everyone’s attention from them.

‘As I said before, I could be gone for some time. But I will return as soon as possible. I do care about you and your family, Leo.’

Leo was surprised but also pleased by his forwardness. ‘Well… I’ll look forward to seeing you again.’

He smiled before turning away. The portal opened and Donnie stepped aside. ‘There, you’ll be dropped back to the location you were taken from,’ he explained.

Usagi nodded, not seeming to have any problems with this, and turned back to wave to the room at large before stepping through. Donnie counted something off on his fingers before bending down to deactivate the portal again.

Leo tore his eyes away from where Usagi had been and turned to address the rest of his family, only to see April giving him a dopey smile. Apparently she had managed to overhear or mentally read something from one or both of them. But they had something more important to discuss first.

‘So, like I said, Karai is returning to New York. Based on what she said, she’ll probably be arriving around midnight our time. Is anyone available to pick her up from the airport?’ He looked to April and Casey first. It would be possible for him and his brothers to drive out and meet her, but it’d be a lot simpler if they could just send the humans in.

‘I can go,’ April offered. ‘I don’t have class until late afternoon tomorrow.’

‘I would,’ Casey added, ‘but I’ve gotta make an early training session tomorrow. Ice hockey champ in the making and all that.’

‘I’ll go with,’ Raph added. ‘Isn’t it a little fishy that she’s suddenly showing up now after all this time? What if that wasn’t really her on the phone?’

‘I’m obviously going,’ Donnie added, now that it had been decided April was going to drive.

‘Me too,’ Mikey decided as he abandoned his slab of concrete to go into the kitchen. He returned with Ice Cream Kitty in a bowl and placed her on the table. ‘Model for me, Kitty,’ he said, picking up his tools again. Now that Leo knew what he was making, his work so far made a lot more sense.

Now Leo felt pressured to go as well, despite what he’d implied on the phone. ‘Then one of us has to go on patrol. I’ll do it.’ Both Donnie and April looked like they wanted to say something about that, for vastly different reasons. ‘But for now, I’m going to catch up on the rest of my sleep.’

He’d barely made it half way to his room before he heard April following him. ‘Leo!’ she called softly when he made it to the doorway, making sure he wouldn’t ignore her.

He turned back, simultaneously reluctant and glad to be having this conversation. April pushed him back into his room and closed the door behind them, clearly noticing his need for privacy when discussing this.

‘Tell me everything!’ she demanded softly, reminding him of the first time he’d approached her about Karai.

He made a show of sighing and folding his arms, but April knew him well enough to ignore that. ‘Well, Usagi and I ended up getting along pretty well.’ He halted in his explanation, not feeling comfortable with telling her literally everything. ‘But Karai called last night, saying she wanted to talk to me in person and already seemed to be on her way here to do so.’

April’s face seemed to fall throughout his brief explanation. ‘Do you still have feelings for her?’

Leo turned away, a deep frown on his face. ‘I don’t know. I don’t want to. I’m still sore that she up and left with no explanation, that’s for sure.’

April seemed to decide on something, and Leo wondered if he should be worried. ‘Got it, I’ll see what I can glean without being invasive and give you a heads up.’

* * *

 

Usagi landed in his quarters in his lord’s castle, where he’d been writing late into the night when the portal had originally swallowed him up. He wondered what everyone had thought of his weeklong absence, and decided it would be prudent to make it look as though he’d travelled a long way and had just come back. He’d get an audience with his lord easily, he was sure. But he doubted the outcome of it would be positive.

At least some of the other samurai employed here seemed to have been worried about him rather than sceptical. He got the impression his lord hadn’t been, and decided he’d tell the unbelievable truth just to see what happened.

He knelt in front of the door to his lord’s quarters and announced himself before sliding the door open, bowing and entering, and then turning around to sit on his knees and close it once more. He sat in front of his lord, who did look decidedly unimpressed.

‘Well?’

‘I have an explanation, but I am unsure of whether you will believe it,’ Usagi stated, reminding himself that he would have to speak in keigo again. It was a little frightening how quickly his higher brow vocabulary had faded after only a few weeks of having to speak and think in modern English.

The larger man sighed. ‘I was afraid that would be the case.’

‘Some years ago I met some turtles that had been summoned here from another world by my nemesis. It seems they discovered how to travel between our worlds and accidentally summoned me to theirs on the night I went missing. The device broke after I arrived and it was fixed just now so I could return.’ Well, perhaps he could embellish the truth a little.

His lord raised his eyebrow. ‘Whether I believe that is true or not, I feel there is something else you want to say.’

Usagi hadn’t planned to bring up the topic of being excused from his duties so soon, but as he’d suspected, it seemed he wasn’t entirely welcome here anymore. ‘I’m always looking to improve my fighting ability, and I think I have found a worthwhile opportunity to do so. I was going to ask your permission to temporarily take leave and improve how well I can serve you, but I sense that is no longer an appropriate request to make.’

His lord frowned as he thought. ‘No, it’s not. I expect you and your possessions to be gone by dawn.’

At the formal dismissal, Usagi relaxed considerably. He stood without being dismissed, and opened the door while he was still on his feet.

‘You were a ronin for far too long Usagi.’

‘Perhaps,’ he replied before closing the door a little more firmly than necessary. He had about half an hour before the news about the lord’s decision spread to everyone in the compound. He planned to make the most of it and grab supplies and a horse. It would be good to visit his son while he had the chance.

* * *

 

Leo stood at the top of the building where he’d taken Usagi to see the view of the river. He gazed at his phone, noticing it was past 1 a.m. and April still hadn’t sent him any messages. He decided to send one of his own instead.

_You back at the lair?_

It only took her a few minutes to reply the affirmative. He sighed and slowly made his way back down to street level as he travelled toward the usual sewer entrance. He’d been trying to prepare himself, but he felt just as apprehensive and confused as before.

When he arrived, Karai was sitting on the lounge cross legged with a cup of tea in her hand. She looked completely zoned out, undoubtedly horribly jet lagged and exhausted. She was dressed in what she’d probably worn to travel; a dark t-shirt and yoga pants. She wasn’t wearing any makeup and her hair was in a style most would consider to be more normal, her fringe going straight across her forehead and the rest forming a shoulder length bob.

Mikey was still working on his Ice Cream Kitty sculpture, talking rapidly at her, not seeming to care that she was too tired to pay attention to him.

‘Leo!’ Mikey called loudly when he noticed him come in, making Karai start. ‘You’re back from brooding! I thought that was Raph’s job though?’

Leo picked his teapot up from the coffee table with a frown when he saw it was covered in concrete dust. ‘That stuff is toxic if you breathe too much of it in, you know,’ he muttered, tapping the back of his brother’s head in a mockery of how they used to hit each other.

Mikey mock cried in return and Leo continued walking, using the excuse of cleaning the empty teapot to avoid staying in the room any longer. He tapped the used leaves of his favourite mixed jasmine tea into the bin before running the tea strainer under the tap. He knew Karai was standing in the kitchen doorway now, but still he avoided turning around to acknowledge it. Unfortunately cleaning the teapot was only going to give him a distraction for so much longer.

Karai approached and put her empty teacup in the sink. She held onto it, purposely keeping her arm in his way. His eyes followed her thin arm up to her face and noticed the bags under her eyes and a few spots on her left cheek. It seemed they were both going to be stubborn about not being the first to speak.

Leo stepped away from the sink and headed toward the bathroom. He did need a shower, and maybe she’d finally go to sleep by the time he got out.

‘Leo,’ she finally said, and it was enough to stop him in his tracks. He cursed himself as he realised he still held on her every word. ‘I’m too tired to have this conversation now, but you’d better get over your need to pretend your ignoring me by tomorrow night.’

He looked back at her over his shoulder and she was smiling slightly. He might have found her teasing rudeness cute at one point, but she wasn’t the only one who was tired.

Tired of it all.

Leo continued on his way to the bathroom, still not saying a word to her. He could feel her smile waver without having to look back. He wondered what his father would say if he were here, but quickly decided he didn’t want to know.


	7. Leaders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know like nothing about other characters in the Usagi Yojimbo comics, so excuse all the crap I've made up or only gotten half right in this chapter.

Leo woke mid-afternoon, still not feeling prepared for whatever their conversation was going to be about. He stuck to a simple breakfast of butter on toast since he couldn’t be bothered making the things Usagi normally did. Raph entered the kitchen and nudged his shell in greeting as he passed. Leo grunted in response and shifted his left leg just enough to give his brother room to sit down on the chair next to him.

‘April said she was sorry for not giving you a heads up yesterday, but she couldn’t read Karai’s intentions at all,’ Raph said barely above a whisper.

He didn’t want to be overheard, so Leo scraped his plate across the table as he spoke. ‘I guessed as much.’

Raph nudged him again as though Leo could be poked out of his depressive slump. ‘Whatever it is, you don’t have to agree to anything she says. The clan is going fine as it is.’

Leo gave his brother a slow blink. ‘Did you just praise my leadership?’ he teased.

Raph’s nudge was much firmer this time, and he seemed intent on changing the subject. ‘Listen, do you consider Mona Lisa to be a part of this family?’

Leo tilted his head, concerned about why that question had come up so suddenly. ‘If she’s important to you, then of course she’s welcome here.’

‘I’ve… I’ve asked Don to look into whether she and I can have children and it seems possible. So um, we’re going to start trying,’ he said hesitantly.

Leo realised he was asking his permission as clan leader to pursue this. He doubted saying no would stop him from going ahead, but he was flattered he’d thought to bring it up first. ‘If it works, you’d want me to teach them?’

‘Yeah, when they’re old enough,’ Raph replied, seemingly relieved that Leo had reached this conclusion on his own.

Leo rested his hand on Raph’s shoulder. ‘I wasn’t expecting to have to be responsible for that so soon, but I support your decision. You can, uh, take some time off from going on patrols.’

Raph snorted at that. ‘That’s not how salamanders, or Salamandrians, reproduce. We just need to wait for her next batch of eggs to be ready now,’ he said enigmatically, and Leo chose not to spend too much brain power on trying to work that one out. So he had already gone ahead, anyway.

‘Well, if you do want more time to spend with her, just let me know.’

‘Thanks,’ Raph said, only now taking his chance to steal some of Leo’s toast. Leo kicked him under the table but Raph just laughed.

Leo’s good mood faded again when he saw Karai enter the kitchen. He hoped their conversation was going to go just as well, but wasn’t counting on it.

‘Morning,’ she said and started helping herself to his tea stash.

‘Morning,’ Leo replied, finally breaking his silence. ‘I guess it’s about time we had this talk.’

Karai nodded and started preparing enough of his preferred tea for two. He stood, intending to wash his plate and help carry everything into the dojo, but Raph whisked his plate away before he could.

He hesitated, but then decided to just move into the next room and wait. It would probably be best to treat this like a meeting between clan leaders, so he moved the table closer to the end of the dojo with his father’s shrine, and sat so it would be behind him while they spoke.

Karai came back with the tea and two cups and placed them on the table before turning to the shrine and bowing to it formally. He placed the teacups where they would be sitting, but Karai beat him to actually pouring the tea. It seemed she was trying to suck up to him for some reason, and it made him uneasy.

He nodded his thanks and waited for her to say what she’d come all this way to say. She seemed to take a deep breath before bluntly coming out with it. ‘We should unite our clans before they become enemies again.’

Leo raised a brow. ‘Is that supposed to be a threat?’

Karai rolled her eyes, still too much of a rebel inside to keep her formal demeanour going for too long. ‘No, genius, just an observation. It’s more for the sake of future generations than for us.’

So it was a question of duty, then. ‘So you want me to step down and let you take your birthright to the Hamato clan?’

She shifted uncomfortably. ‘I’d rather not use that method. Sure, I’d take the name and the crest back, but I doubt you or your brothers would be content with me doing that. It’d only make the problem worse.’ She took a long drink of tea as though she didn’t know how to say the next part. Leo took the chance to take a sip as well. ‘It only has to be a formality if that’s all you want, but if we got married…’

Leo spat the tea back out in a spray, most of it landing in the cup that he was still holding up by his face, thankfully. He coughed to give himself time to replay that in his head again. ‘Are you serious?’ he croaked.

At least Karai had the decency to look embarrassed as well. ‘Yes! Look, when I went back to Japan, I was trying to be responsible. I had to assert myself as leader of the Foot in all our branches and subgroups to prevent a mutiny and stop the conflict with Hamato. I was trying to protect you all from a much larger and more powerful clan.’

‘Then why didn’t you say anything?’ Leo demanded. ‘Don’t you think we would’ve liked to have known that at the time?’

‘I didn’t think it’d take four years!’ she snapped defensively. ‘And I didn’t know I’d be so successful. I guess I didn’t want to say anything in case it all came to nothing.’

‘That’s a weak excuse and you know it,’ Leo said, folding his arms.

Karai sighed, the fight leaving her once again. ‘I know it is. I’m… sorry.’

Still, her proposal seemed slightly ridiculous. ‘Can’t we just formalise an alliance?’

‘That doesn’t mean much to ninjas. At least if future generations look into our history, they’ll see you killed the clan leader, but that it was so someone more suitable could lead. And they’d assume it was love that connected us. Why does it matter anyway? You saving yourself for someone?’

Leo couldn’t really be offended by the way she’d worded that, given what Karai didn’t know about his current circumstances. ‘Maybe I am. What of it? Is it really that much better than an alliance?’

‘Seriously? You’re seeing someone?’ she asked quickly, looking far more interested in his reply than he’d expected.

‘Hardly,’ Leo muttered. ‘It could be weeks before I see him again.’

It was Karai’s turn to have an accident with her tea due to shock. Leo was sure some of it had gone up her nose.

‘I’m not playing around. The Foot could disintegrate entirely if we don’t solidify the relationship between our clans somehow. If I’m not in charge there’ll be vengeful groups after your head. It’d be a shame since you’ve spent so long trying to keep the city peaceful. In fact, you’ve probably done your jobs a little too well and you’re all getting rusty.’

Leo rolled his eyes. ‘If you wanted to fight me, you only had to say so.’

‘Then let’s go,’ Karai snapped as she swiftly rose to her feet.

Leo felt confident facing her like this. Usagi was both more aggressive and less predictable than Karai. Besides, a solving things through a heart to heart didn’t really suit either of them.

He yelled out as he attacked, making her jump much in the same way he was sure Usagi had done to him in their first spar. But Karai recovered much faster than he had. She grinned mischievously as she readied her retaliation.

The heat of battle seemed to clear the air between them.

* * *

 

Usagi groaned as he dismounted the horse outside the village that was his childhood home. As a ronin he’d spent most of his time penniless and walking around the countryside, so he’d forgotten how painful riding for nearly three days straight could be. He stretched, hoping he’d be able to walk his limp off before reaching his family’s place. Kenichi would never let him live it down.

He stroked the horse’s nose, fond of it now that it had managed to take him this far, before leading him toward the village. He’d taken his own back pay before leaving his previous employer’s house. It’d be more than enough to get the supplies he needed to take care of the poor thing.

The same old man was still in charge of the small stable outside the village head’s house. He wasted no time in laughing at the state Usagi had gotten himself into, soon reminiscing about seeing Usagi trying to cover from horseback training when he was much younger. But when he’d calmed down, he did have some pertinent information to share.

‘I think Mariko and Kenichi will be glad to see you. Jotaro is at that age where he’s starting to give his parents trouble. Maybe someone outside the family he respects will be able to pull him back into line.’

Usagi frowned with concern. Jotaro had always been energetic, and only well-mannered when it suited him – Usagi couldn’t imagine where he’d gotten that trait from – but he’d never gone out of his way to cause trouble before.

‘I see. I’ll make sure I get a chance to talk to him about it.’

Usagi left the old man extra money for his trouble with the horse, knowing his family needed it and that he most certainly wouldn’t once he returned to New York. He made his way, slowly, over to the village leader’s homestead. The house had been built after Hikiji’s invading force had killed the last village head, Usagi’s own father. It didn’t hold a good place in his heart, but he was glad his family was living relatively comfortably.

Usagi stepped up onto the porch, not seeing anyone around yet. ‘Mariko?’ he called, trying to draw someone’s attention before he’d have to resort to letting himself in.

He heard hurried footsteps coming toward the door. ‘Just a moment!’ Mariko didn’t sound happy about being addressed without the correct name suffix, but he was sure she wouldn’t mind when she saw it was only him.

When the door slid open, Mariko didn’t look particularly happy to see him. ‘Usagi… Has Jotaro seen you yet? This really isn’t a good time…’

Usagi’s frown deepened. ‘I heard Jotaro has been causing you trouble lately.’ He shifted his stance slightly and tried to cover his wince.

Mariko noticed, of course, and stood aside to let him in. He removed his shoes and followed her through to the family’s private living space, away from where they usually entertained guests. ‘Jotaro is aware of, um, our history. As I feared, it has affected his relationship with Kenichi. I’m afraid he might say the wrong thing in front of the wrong person soon.’

‘I see. I will make sure he fully understands the consequences of his actions.’

They devolved into a comfortable silence. It was easy for him to be around Mariko, even now. His heart always felt heavy when he thought of what could have been, but their decisions had been made already.

A short time later Usagi heard the front door slide open and who he could only presume was Kenichi call, ‘ _Tadaima_.’

‘I’ll just be a moment,’ Mariko said quietly, quickly standing, undoubtedly so she could intercept Kenichi and inform him of their unannounced guest’s presence before he entered the room.

Usagi took the chance to move and try to stretch out his riding cramps, not wanting to be wincing like an idiot when they came back. He’d just settled back down in a cross-legged position when they returned with thirteen year old Jotaro in tow.

His son’s eyes lit up at the sight of him. He nearly bowled him over as he ran over and hugged him tight. He might not have said anything yet, but it was odd for him to act this familiar with anyone other than immediate family.

‘Jotaro,’ he began slowly, not moving from his position to return the embrace. ‘I heard you have been causing trouble for your parents.’ He glanced up at said parents before Jotaro sat back and looked up at him. Kenichi looked even less happy to see him than Mariko, but that wasn’t exactly unusual.

‘I know the truth! I have for years! And I don’t want to hold it back anymore!’ Jotaro explained.

Usagi sighed heavily. ‘It isn’t that simple, Jotaro. This isn’t about you.’ He paused, making sure his son was going to listen to what he said next. ‘Everyone in this small village knows everyone else’s history. If the truth got out, it wouldn’t be difficult for anyone to work out what happened thirteen years ago. What would they think of your mother for having a child out of wedlock, and then marrying your father?’

‘Nothing good,’ Jotaro admitted quietly.

It hurt Usagi to say, but he knew his son needed to hear it. ‘Besides, isn’t your real father the person who raised you and looked after your mother when she needed it most?’

Kenichi stared at him intensely, but Usagi tried to ignore him. Jotaro nodded. ‘I don’t think you’re a bad person,’ he said. Before Usagi had a chance to react, he’d turned around on his knees and bowed low to the ground to his parents in apology.

Mariko quickly shuffled forward, telling him to stop being silly and to raise his head. She glanced back at Kenichi when she had her son in her arms. ‘Come on Jotaro, we should leave Usagi and Father to talk,’ she murmured, leading him from the room.

Usagi tried not to shift uncomfortably again when he felt his legs growing stiff. Eventually Kenichi looked back up at him and spoke. ‘I thought you were just going to cause more trouble by coming here but… thank you, Usagi. I didn’t know you thought so highly of me,’ he finished in a slightly lighter tone.

‘I don’t,’ Usagi snapped, but there was no real menace behind his words.

‘What brings you here? Did you get fired already?’

‘I prefer to say I quit,’ he shot back. ‘I’ll be going away for some time after this. Do you know if the tailor is in town? I need to get more clothing made.’

‘Things aren’t going so well for the village financially. Your business might incentivise him to come back for a while, though.’

‘I understand,’ Usagi replied, ‘I haven’t come here penniless looking for a handout. I made sure to get my back pay before leaving. But here, I won’t be needing it where I’m going,’ he added, putting the bag of coin on the table.

‘U-Usagi…’ Kenichi murmured, looking concerned this time. It was only when Usagi played back what he’d said that he realised how morbid it sounded out of context.

‘I meant I’m going to see a friend who I can mooch off of. There’s no need to worry. I have a few things I need to make and buy while I’m here, but I’ll be out of your hair in a few days. I know you’ll make good use of whatever I can leave behind.’

Kenichi just shook his head slightly. ‘If you insist.’


	8. Chapter 8

It had been two days since their spar. Karai was still hanging around the lair, and Leo assumed that meant he still hadn’t given her a satisfactory answer. Though Usagi had only been gone for little under a week, Leo already wished he’d hurry back and help him sort this out. He had far more experience with this kind of diplomacy.

Leo had decided to start doing the “homework” Usagi had set them. He quietly stepped into the room that had once been their father’s and made a beeline for the small stack of boxes against the opposite wall. There were a lot of things with important memories attached stored here, but he still didn’t feel ready to start pulling it all out and reliving it yet. Instead, he methodically removed the box he was after from the stack and carefully peeled the tape back so he could open it up.

Inside lay the materials their father had used to at least give them a basic education. The stacks of spelling and arithmetic books were well worn from passing through the hands of four young ninjas. Beneath those were old pencil cases and notebooks, the children’s books they’d used to practice reading, and some balls and beanbags they’d used in training before they’d been ready to practice with solid and sometimes sharp objects.

He put the toys aside now that he knew they’d probably be coming in handy soon enough, then returned to digging through the box. While their father had tried to teach them Japanese outside of what they needed in the dojo, only he and Donnie had shown any real interest in actively studying it. And Donnie had quickly become too enamoured with mathematics and science to really focus on it once their father had found most of a set of encyclopaedias for him to read through.

Leo retrieved the beginner’s kanji book from the bottom of the box, along with the sumi-e board he could practice writing on. If he wrote on it with a brush dipped in water, the marks would fade as it dried, so he could use the same page over and over again. It was exactly what he needed to practice calligraphy and build enough confidence to pull actual ink out.

He replaced the things they wouldn’t need again for at least a few years back into the box, and put the toys on top so he’d be able to find them easily later. He took the kanji book and board to the table in the dojo before pinching one of the brushes they’d found for Usagi. He settled behind the table once he’d gotten a small cup of water from the kitchen and opened the textbook to the first page.

He decided to start with the basics, drawing the number one first, a simple horizontal stroke. Though it wasn’t that simple when he was worried about the correct line thickness, position and length. But, the challenge was what made calligraphy an art, he supposed.

* * *

 

Usagi sighed and dragged the covers over his head when he realised the pain in his legs was going to bother him for yet another day. But hiding in here wasn’t really going to help anything. He was sure they had all already noticed him staggering around, so it didn’t really matter if they saw him now.

He smiled humourlessly when he thought about how easy it would have been for Leonardo to do something to help him. When his thoughts drifted to the pleasant idea of having the ninja’s hands on his thighs, he quickly sat up. He didn’t need to be thinking about that when he knew Jotaro was probably going to come and ask him for another training session sooner than later.

Usagi had felt bad about how harsh he’d been toward his son when it’d been the first time they’d seen each other in several years, but it seemed he’d said exactly what the boy had needed to hear. As long as he continued to behave and work to keep the family secret when he wasn’t around, he could consider it a success.

He turned to look at the shoji door when he heard it slide open a small way. Jotaro was peeking into the room, his ears poised high, clearly listening carefully. He smiled and opened the door wider when he saw he was clearly awake.

‘It’s so late,’ the boy said with a small laugh. ‘Mother said I should bring you this.’ He disappeared briefly but soon stepped into the room with a tray of food and a drawstring sack hanging off one of his wrists.

He put the food down near the futon, and Usagi shuffled over to sit in front of the small, portable table. There was no way he could cover his wince this time.

‘How did you even end up like this?’ Jotaro asked as he placed the sack next to him. ‘The tailor sent this, by the way. Seems he’s done with your request already.’

Usagi nodded in thanks. ‘Well, I had to get here quickly, but I didn’t want my old lord to be able to trace my movements and come here to harass your parents about me. So let’s just say I took the scenic route home.’

Jotaro laughed again as Usagi reached out to inspect the sack’s contents. It wasn’t actually clothing for himself, but a gift for Leonardo. He may not have had the clothing made to fit him in his world, but it wasn’t unusual for turtles to wear clothes typical of a samurai here, even if alterations had to be made to allow for the shell. He could make any necessary minor alterations once Leo had had a chance to try everything on. It only seemed right to give him this when he was so focused on the katana.

Satisfied, he leant over to enjoy the meal. ‘Thank you for bringing this to me,’ he said.

‘That’s ok,’ Jotaro replied lightly. ‘I know it’s always worse a few days later.’

Usagi made a soft sound of amusement around his mouthful of rice. ‘Katsuichi sensei working you hard, is he?’ As far as Usagi knew, his first teacher was still training Jotaro.

Jotaro looked proud. ‘He says I’m talented, like you.’

And that somewhat explained the boy’s recent behaviour. Why he suddenly wanted people to know who he was really related to.

‘One day you might be glad that no one else knows. You won’t have to live in my shadow,’ Usagi said, only half teasing. He did have enemies, and he may have just made a new one, but they were less likely to bother his family if they didn’t know about them.

Jotaro just shrugged. ‘If you say so…’

‘Remember, you’re not skilled because you’re related to me. You’re strong because you’ve been working hard under the most skilled swordsman in the land, and your parents have given you the chance to focus almost exclusively on the warrior’s path. Don’t fool yourself into believing otherwise.’

Jotaro seemed to swell at the praise, tempered as it was. He shuffled around on his knees to sit next to Usagi so he could lean in to wrap his arms around his middle.

Usagi returned his embrace with his free arm, but continued eating with his other hand. Jotaro squinted up at him with a raised brow.

‘If I ever teach you anything, let it be to never turn down free food.’

When Jotaro laughed Usagi smiled as well. Now that he had restored his relationship with his son, he felt readier to leave again. With no negative feelings left to fester, things might actually be better when he eventually returned.

* * *

 

Leo hadn’t been able to keep the smile off his face all day. Donnie turned back to grab another tool, double checking something on the portal device before using it again. He shook his head and rolled his eyes when he noticed Leo’s expression.

He tried to ignore the way Karai was hovering around, trying to suss out the situation. He’d gone back to avoiding her in case she tried to talk about uniting their clans again, but he couldn’t exactly just tell her to leave the room now.

Leo shifted his position again and looked over Donnie’s shoulder in an attempt to see what he was doing, even though he knew he wouldn’t understand it. The TV was playing something softly in the background, and he could hear Raph was playing something loud and complicated on the drums behind the closed door of his room. Leo wasn’t sure if he was doing as Usagi had suggested, or if he was trying to take his mind off whether he’d be able to have children with the love of his life, but he’d spent more time in his room than out of it lately.

He heard the rattle of a skateboard against the paving outside the lair before Mikey jumped over the turnstile as his board rolled under it. Thankfully he gave Donnie a wide berth before doing a kickflip over the back of the couch and nearly putting a hole in the TV.

‘Oops, didn’t wanna be late,’ Mikey said with a nervous laugh.

But Leo could barely spare the attention to tell him off. Donnie was stepping away from the device now, reaching out to turn it on before getting clear.

When he stepped through the blue light of the portal, Usagi looked a little dishevelled. This time the clothes he wore were clearly made for travel, looking more practical and more worn. His swords were still tied to his hip and both his arms were full of his things. He’d had a chance to bring quite a bit more than just the clothes on his back this time.

‘ _Tadaima_ ,’ he said in a teasing tone as he put his bags on the couch. He seemed to wince slightly as he straightened up.

‘Welcome back,’ Leo replied as Donnie shut the portal off again. ‘Are you all right?’

Usagi just grimaced. ‘That obvious is it? No need to worry, I just spent far longer than usual on horseback, and now I’m paying for it.’

‘Oh, ok. Well, there’s no need for you to suffer. I can take a look at it in a bit.’ He turned to look at Karai, who was trying to be subtle about her staring, at least. ‘Karai, Usagi,’ he introduced briefly, gesturing at each of them respectively.

They regarded each other silently for a moment before greeting each other formally. Usagi turned back to him and gestured at his things. ‘Where should I put all this?’

Leo shrugged. ‘Might as well keep it in my room for now. Let’s take a look.’ They moved down the corridor and Leo held the door for him. ‘I should look at your leg while we’re here,’ he added as he closed it behind them.

‘They both hurt, but it’s not a big deal. It can wait until later.’

‘Don’t be silly,’ Leo replied, gesturing for him to sit down on his bed. ‘If you experience the healing hands you’ll understand what we’re trying to achieve when I get a chance to teach you.’

‘All right,’ he agreed easily as he sat down. Getting off his feet seemed to be a relief in and of itself. He shuffled around so Leo would have room to kneel on the bed in front of him.

He got into position before closing his eyes and forming the appropriate hand seals. It’d be easier for him to search for the issue without his sense of sight distracting him. Once he could feel his flow of energy he shifted his hands toward the areas that were in pain.

‘Ouch,’ he commented once he’d assessed the damage. Usagi had healed significantly on his own, but his muscles were still clearly stressed. Leo sent his energy forward, since touching his guest in all of those places physically might not be considered entirely appropriate.

When Leo sat back and opened his eyes, he was amused to see Usagi moving his leg with a look of amazement on his face. ‘Thank you, I must repay you for this.’

‘Don’t say that,’ Leo laughed. ‘I might just ask you to scrub out the muck caught in the ridges of my shell.’

‘Even with the flexibility of a ninja, I can’t imagine that would be easy to do by yourself,’ Usagi conceded. ‘I’d be happy to help.’

Leo was taken aback by his forwardness. ‘Well, anyway, I suppose we should go back out there,’ he said shortly. He didn’t need to give Mikey any more time to think up inappropriate comments about them.

Usagi agreed easily and followed his lead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe this is already ~20k long. Is anyone even still reading lol


	9. Chapter 9

‘If I remember correctly, last time we trained together I gave you all something to think about. How are you progressing?’ Usagi asked once they had all managed to settle into something that was approximately a circle on the dojo floor. Karai was sitting in to observe the session, though Leo wasn’t sure whether letting her see how they trained was meant to be a show of faith, or if she was there to actively criticise.

‘Behold, my masterpiece!’ Mikey exclaimed, jumping in first as Leo had expected. He wasn’t sure where he’d been hiding the concrete Ice Cream Kitty, but was kind of impressed that he’d managed to sneak it in here without him noticing it until now.

Usagi frowned and seemed to be speechless for a moment. Karai raised her hand to cover her smirk. But Usagi soon recovered. ‘I was expecting more telling than showing. Is this something you are thinking or pursuing?’

‘Yeah!’ Mikey exclaimed, leaning forward over his crossed ankles. ‘It’s really fun. When I get caught up in it, hours just seem to disappear.’

So, it seemed his brother had finally learnt what focus was. Leo made a mental note to look for some art materials that were less toxic than old concrete next time he went dumpster diving.

‘Good, it sounds like it’s helping you achieve what it’s supposed to,’ Usagi replied. Mikey’s smile widened and the statue disappeared again. ‘Anyone else?’

Raph and Donnie looked like they both had something to say, but neither of them seemed entirely willing to come out with it here and now. Leo resolved to make time to work with them one on one during training so he could see what that was all about.

‘Well, it has only been one week,’ he covered for them. ‘I was thinking of looking at calligraphy, but I need to revise kanji characters before I can concentrate on technique.’

Usagi nodded. ‘True, I wasn’t really expecting anyone to have had an epiphany yet. But until you all find something that fills in your self-identified gaps, there isn’t really much else for us to go over. What was the original plan for today’s training?’

Leo was glad to be able to take over. ‘Raph, you’ll do randori with me. Karai with Mikey. Donnie, can you work on throwing weapons with Usagi for now? We can all swap in twenty.’

Donnie nodded his agreement. Mikey looked a little scared. The six of them stood and spread out across the dojo. Leo walked to the area closest to the back wall, trying to get as far from the others as possible so Raph would be more likely to actually talk about what was bothering him.

They shaped up to each other, easily settling on practicing some hand to hand fighting. They had relied on having weapons a little too much when they were younger. Besides, Raph was obviously distracted, and it could get dangerous if they went flat out with blades when he wasn’t completely on the ball.

Leo definitely knew something was up when he managed to pin his brother within a couple of minutes. Leo leant his full weight onto Raph’s arms, which were twisted up behind his back. Raph didn’t bother trying to tap out and just sighed heavily.

‘You doing ok?’ Leo asked quietly.

For a moment he thought all he was going to get was a sarcastic response. ‘It’s Mona. We think her next batch of eggs have been fertilised, but what if we just end up with genetically incompatible monstrosities?’

‘We can only wait and see,’ Leo placated, though he could understand his brother’s worries. Who knew if they were genetically compatible with any other creature in the universe?

‘Not to mention, it’s nearly that time of year again…’

Leo didn’t need to ask him to elaborate on that. The anniversary of their father’s death wasn’t a date that was easy to forget. Usually they went out to the farm house to tidy his grave and do some maintenance around this time, but if Raph and Mona were expecting soon it might have to wait a little while.

‘We’ll wait until we know what’s going on before we go anywhere. I’m sure sensei won’t mind if we’re a bit late because of this.’ Leo stood and then pulled Raph to his feet as well. ‘Why don’t you step out and go see how she’s doing now? It might give you some peace of mind.’

Raph nodded and made his way over to the door of the dojo. He turned and ducked his head before leaving. Leo turned his attention to his other seemingly depressed brother, noticing Usagi’s aim seemed to have gotten much better in the interim.

He glanced and Mikey and Karai on his way over to them. Mikey had her short sword wrapped in the chains of one of his nunchaku, but it seemed she was still the one who had control of the movement of their weapons. She pulled their weapons back, causing Mikey to bend over to keep a hold of his nunchaku. Karai brought her knee up to his face, but Mikey threw his whole body weight to the side, pulling Karai off her feet and down to the ground, making them both look slightly ridiculous.

‘Usagi, I think Mikey and Karai could use someone mixing things up a bit for them,’ Leo said. ‘Donnie, it’s been a while since you did any randori. Let’s try some.’

Usagi nodded and moved to take a closer look at what the other two were doing. Donnie paused in the middle of reaching for his staff when he realised Leo hadn’t moved yet. ‘But first, you want to tell me what’s bothering _you_?’ he asked, moving to the targets against the front wall and starting to wrench the shuriken out of them.

‘What else do I angst over? Do you know how long it’s been since I had a breakthrough with Timothy?’ Donnie’s hand slipped on the shuriken he was pulling out of the target and he cut his finger on one of its sharp edges. ‘ _Ouch_ ,’ he complained, bringing the cut to his mouth.

Leo gave him a sympathetic look for both his immediate and longer lasting pains. ‘We have the retro mutagen down, but having to find a way to help him survive the process of being unfrozen? That’s beyond the bleeding edge of known science, isn’t it? Do you think the healing hands could help in any way?’

A thoughtful look crossed Donnie’s face as he continued to suck on his finger. ‘You know, you could be onto something there. I need to perform some experiments to understand what you can do better.’

‘Ok, ok, I didn’t mean to volunteer to be your guinea pig,’ Leo teased, waving his hands in front of his face. But if the look on his face was anything to go by, Donnie was already off and away with his thoughts. ‘Would you like to be dismissed from training early as well?’

‘Well, if you’re offering,’ Donnie replied with a shrug as he turned toward the exit. He turned to bow before leaving, but his fingers flexed as though he was itching to write something down.

Leo glanced back at the three remaining people in the dojo only to find they were all staring at him. ‘What?’

‘If you come over here, does that mean I can finish training early too?’ Mikey asked eagerly. Karai kicked him in the shin snidely. ‘Ah! Man down!’

Leo rolled his eyes, but knew it’d be impossible to keep his youngest brother focused now. Especially if he started whining about how unfair it all was. ‘Fine, fine, we’ll start slow this week. But there’ll be extra training tomorrow.’

Mikey took his chance to disappear, and Leo turned back to Karai and Usagi. ‘So, was there anything you two wanted to work on?’

Karai narrowed her eyes and whipped her blade around again. ‘Three way spar, last one standing wins.’

‘Hmm, fine by me,’ Usagi agreed, drawing his katana with his left hand and his tantou with his right.

They both turned their eyes on Leo sharply and expectantly. ‘Uh, ok then?’ he replied quietly, reaching for his katanas with some trepidation.

‘If we gang up on him, there’s no way he can beat us!’ Karai said quickly before ducking low and charging at Usagi.

‘No way?’ Usagi scoffed. ‘ _You’re both one hundred years too early_ ,’ he added in his native language, seeming to relish in the fact his opponent could understand his favourite ridiculous one liners.

‘You sound like a bad anime,’ Karai mocked, even as her first strike was blocked by Usagi’s blade. He struck in the direction of the opening he’d just created, but Karai had already twisted back out of range.

Leo realised his mouth was hanging open at the aggressive display, and made an effort to close it. Since neither of them knew the meaning of holding back in training, the result was kind of terrifying. ‘Um, wasn’t this supposed to be a three way fight?’

‘You can choose a side any time,’ Usagi said lightly before turning and whipping his blade down at Karai once more.

Leo sighed loudly and sheathed his swords. ‘This is ridiculous,’ he said, before making his way toward the exit. He turned back to bow automatically, and realised neither of them seemed to have noticed his statement. He flinched when a katana nearly sliced into the flooring.

It seemed Usagi had more stamina than Karai, so he could hold up his aggressive assault that little bit longer. She panicked when his blade broke through her defences and transformed into her snake form. It had to be the first time Leo had ever seen Usagi be truly thrown by something in battle.

‘Yokai?’ Usagi muttered, his stance shifting slightly as his focus ramped up.

Sensing the danger they could put each other in if things continued like this, Leo called ‘ _Yame_!’ and smoothly drew his blades again so he could get between them relatively safely.

Usagi immediately backed off when he saw him move, but didn’t take his eyes off Karai for a second. Leo turned to her and lowered his weapons. ‘Hey, it’s ok. You two let things get a bit out of hand, but it stops here.’

She seemed to calm down at his promise and changed back, dropping to her knees. Usagi sheathed his weapons and approached slowly. ‘Are you all right, Karai?’

‘Obviously,’ she snapped and turned away from him sharply. Leo just knew this wasn’t going to be easy to sort out.

‘That’s enough practice for today.’

* * *

 

Usagi sat on the edge of the bath only wearing his fundoshi, holding a scrubbing brush with bristles that had been softened from years of use. Leo was sitting in front of him, waist deep in the lukewarm soapy water.

Usagi dipped the brush in the water before bringing it up to rub gently at the ridges at the top of Leo’s shell. He’d been exaggerating about the amount of dirt stuck in there, but Usagi was sure he would be able to feel it on him when it got to be too much.

‘You don’t have to be _that_ gentle if you find something particularly stubborn,’ Leo said.

‘Ok,’ Usagi acknowledged. He scrubbed a little more firmly and watched the shiver run through Leo’s body. It seemed to be a good thing, so he continued doing it while moving in sections down his back.

Leo was quiet considering they hadn’t seen one another for a while and that it was a quiet and private space. ‘So, how have you and your family been getting on?’ It would be interesting to hear things from his perspective.

‘N-not too badly,’ he replied quietly. ‘Despite our recent session I think my brothers are taking your training advice seriously, and things have been interesting since Karai showed up.’

‘Has she come for a particular reason?’

Leo seemed to hesitate before answering. ‘Yeah, she wants to unite our clans to avoid problems in the future, since I killed the old head of her clan and all.’ He paused again for a moment before deciding to continue. ‘She says if we get married it’ll make future generations view the history between our clans differently.’

Usagi had suspected their relationship had been closer than Leo had admitted before, though he seemed shocked that she’d asked him that. He decided to try and lighten the conversation a little. ‘Isn’t the head of a clan usually the head teacher as well?’

Leo tilted his head in consideration. ‘I guess so.’

Usagi smirked and said in a teasing tone, ‘Then shouldn’t you be more worried about me staking a claim?’

Leo twisted around as far as he could while confined by the tub, but there was a hint of amusement in his eyes. ‘ _You_ have ambitions to lead a ninja clan?’

‘You never know from what direction claims to your leadership are going to be made,’ Usagi replied lightly, but it was also a warning. He didn’t know much about ninja traditions, and even less about Karai, but he couldn’t help but be suspicious about her sudden reappearance in their lives.

Leo huffed and sat back again. ‘It doesn’t really matter what name or clan symbol we use. I had enough trouble getting my brothers to follow me, god help anyone else who tries to bring them into line.’

Usagi laughed. ‘I see. So I will have to fulfil my ambitions elsewhere.’

Leo laughed as well before leaning forward again so Usagi could continue with his ministrations. He sighed with pleasure as the bristles continued rubbing over his shell. But once again, the further down Usagi went, the quieter and more withdrawn Leo seemed to become.

‘That doesn’t hurt, does it?’ Usagi asked.

Leo cleared his throat and shook his head. ‘No, actually, it feels very… nice.’ He brought his knees up to his chin and wrapped his arms around them.

‘Nice?’ Usagi asked, having a suspicion about what that was supposed to mean. He bent forward and dipped his hand under the water so he could scrub off the last section of Leo’s shell.

When he was done Usagi put the brush aside but remained leaning forward. For someone who supposedly wasn’t warm blooded, Leo was good at blushing. Usagi rested his hands on Leo’s shoulders and affectionately nuzzled against the side of his face. ‘I would be glad to help you with that, as well.’

Leo made an odd sound and suddenly disappeared to the other end of the tub, out of his reach. Usagi froze in place at the sudden, outright rejection. ‘I apologise, Leonardo.’

He stood to make himself scarce, but paused with one foot out of the tub when Leo reached out to touch his forearm. ‘I’m sorry…’

‘Don’t apologise.’

‘ _Don’t interrupt_.’ Usagi raised a brow at his tone, but waited for him to go on. ‘What I mean is, this is all new to me. I’ve never… had a chance to…. You’re moving too fast, is all.’

‘Well, I am sorry for making you uncomfortable. Sometimes I forget how different your world, and expectations, are from mine.’ Usagi stepped out of the tub fully and rubbed his feet against the bathmat to help dry them off. ‘If you prefer, I can just ask you to marry me as well,’ Usagi said in a teasing tone as he slid his yukata back on over his shoulders and stepped out of the bathroom.

He thought he heard Leo splutter something before he closed the bathroom door behind him.


	10. Chapter 10

Leo woke to find his face pressed against the simple pattern of the back of Usagi’s yukata. There had been some discussion about their sleeping arrangements after what had happened in the bath yesterday, but Leo trusted him not to push it.

Though, Usagi’s actions did confuse him a little. Leo didn’t think he was that much of a prude, but they’d barely held hands or done whatever his expected equivalent of kissing was. All joking about taking over clans aside, he couldn’t help but question his motivations. Or, perhaps it really was just a cultural difference exacerbated by their difference in time periods.

Leo was surprised Usagi wasn’t up and about yet, but suspected he might be awake anyway. He reached out his arm and wrapped it around Usagi’s torso. He was relieved when a warm hand closed over his.

‘I suppose we should get up,’ Usagi commented softly.

‘I guess,’ Leo muttered. He briefly hugged the samurai closer before sitting up. Knowing his habit by now, Usagi passed him the water bottle that was sitting on his bedside table. ‘Thanks,’ he said before taking a drink.

Usagi climbed out of bed and moved to the corner of the room to get changed out of his yukata and into his training clothes. Leo got out of bed properly to put his own training gear on.

When they made their way into the kitchen they saw Mikey and Karai were frying up a storm for breakfast. They were making an odd mix of pancakes, eggs on toast, fruit salad and more.

‘You two are enthusiastic about breakfast this morning,’ Leo commented.

‘Leftovers day, dude. We’ve gotta clean out the fridge before it all goes bad,’ Mikey explained. ‘Also Karai said she was hungry.’

Karai rolled her eyes, flipping the pancake she was working on without looking. ‘Weren’t you the one who was complaining about being hungry? Tea, boys?’ she added.

‘It’s ok, I’ll make the drinks,’ Leo said, not wanting to sit around when everyone else was bustling about. He put the kettle on, then began getting the teapot ready, as well as preparing some hot chocolate and coffee for his brothers.

He turned to see Usagi sitting at the table awkwardly, then poured the hot water over the leaves in the tea strainer before setting the tea things down in front of him. ‘Keep an eye on this please,’ he said before turning back to the other drinks.

Usagi set the cups out, putting one next to him and the other opposite him, then periodically checked on the tea as it steeped, even though it didn’t really need supervision.

Soon there was a veritable buffet lined up along the kitchen bench, and a stack of empty plates ready to go. Leo only realised Usagi had left the kitchen when he returned with his other two brothers in tow.

‘You should’ve said it was big breakfast day!’ Donnie exclaimed as he moved over to look at the available food. ‘I would’ve asked April and Casey if they were doing anything today.’

‘Next time, dude! Maybe Raph could invite his lady friend too.’

Raph folded his arms and snorted. ‘Only if you get Renet to turn up. How do you even have a relationship with a time traveller anyway? Can’t she see when you’ll break up?’

‘Ye of little faith! Who said we’re gonna break up?’ He picked up a plate and began making his way along the line of dishes. ‘But, challenge accepted!’

Leo and Karai shared a look of amusement. He gestured for her to start helping herself next. ‘Chefs first, that’s the rule,’ he said lightly.

Eventually the whole family squeezed around the table, each of them sitting behind their favoured beverage. Leo purposefully grabbed his food quickly and sat where the lone teacup was situated. He knew Karai and Usagi had noticed the significance of his decision, but neither of them seemed to be outwardly bothered by it.

Karai leaned forward so Leo and Usagi could hear her over the noise of everyone eating and talking, but it was unlikely anyone else would be able to make out her words. ‘Are you on patrol tonight Leo?’

‘No, that’d be Mikey and Donnie,’ he replied neutrally.

‘Wanna hang out?’ She glanced at Usagi, seeming to be including him in the invitation.

Leo was wary, but hoped it’d be a chance for them all to reconcile after their training session yesterday. ‘Sure, why not?’ he replied casually.

She seemed pleased with herself, and gave him a nod before digging into her breakfast properly.

* * *

 

Leo paused to make sure Usagi would be able to recover from the jump he’d misjudged slightly, but the samurai pulled himself up onto the building roof just fine on his own. It didn’t escape Leo that this was where Karai had told him to meet her on the second night they’d met. When she’d tried to convince him to do something selfish.

‘Hey, what do you know?’ she said, pointing at the window of the building across the street. ‘Miyamoto Musashi’s sword is still there! You know, that famous samurai who died like three hundred years ago?’

Leo folded his arms and sighed. ‘Karai…’

Usagi crouched at the edge of the building and squinted at what she was pointing at. He removed the sword from his hip, since he’d insisted on taking it even though it made him stand out like a sore thumb – completely defeating the purpose of dressing in the tracksuit – and examined the sheath as though he’d never seen it before.

He looked back up at them with a deep frown on his face. ‘It’s identical, isn’t it?’

‘Maybe you should take a closer look?’ Karai suggested.

Usagi was already looking for the best route to take to get over to the window. In the end he hopped down the side of the building they were on, ran across the street when it was empty, and began climbing to the correct storey again.

Karai turned to Leo, looking pleased with herself. ‘Oh well,’ she said lightly.

Leo was decidedly unimpressed, and made sure she saw it on his face before using his grappling hook to get to the window of interest. He balanced on the narrow windowsill and pulled out his t-phone to scan the room for security devices. As he’d predicted, there were plenty. The room held valuable collector’s items, after all. Thankfully Donnie’s program was able to temporarily disable everything remotely. The guy’s system was obviously connected to the internet somehow.

He glanced down to see Usagi was looking up at him expectantly, not able to also fit on the window sill. Leo brought a finger to his mouth for quiet, before sliding the old window up and stepping into the room. He remained in a crouching position as he approached the pedestal the swords were being displayed on, just in case someone came to investigate why the cameras weren’t recording properly.

Usagi stepped into the room and shuffled up beside him, not being all that loud but still noisier than Leo would like. Usagi got up on his knees so he could take a closer look at the blade. ‘It really is the same,’ he muttered. ‘So a version of me existed in this world?’

Leo gripped his forearm and jerked his head toward the window. This wasn’t the place to have a conversation. Seeming to get the hint, Usagi closed his mouth and followed Leo when he made his way back toward the window.

The two of them made their own ways back to the top of the building Karai was waiting on without any issues. The security system reengaged correctly a few moments later, as if they’d never been in there.

‘Have fun?’ Karai asked.

Leo glanced over at Usagi, who still looked deeply disturbed. ‘Are you trying to give Usagi an existential crisis?’ Leo asked dryly.

‘He wouldn’t be having one if he was supposed to be here,’ she snapped. ‘Don’t you get it Leo? What do you think my father would say if he were here?’

‘If he were still here, The Shredder never would have killed him and we wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with!’ Leo snapped. ‘How would you know anything about what he would have wanted for us when you were never there?’

The moment he finished speaking he wanted to bite his tongue off. Karai looked honestly shocked, for once. Leo held up his hands peaceably and tried to reassure her that he didn’t mean it, but she had already turned away. She glanced back at them once more before running in the opposite direction, taking off across the rooftops. Leo thought he saw a telling sheen of moisture in her eyes.

‘You shouldn’t make girls cry, Leo,’ Usagi commented.

Leo huffed and folded his arms again. ‘She’s not that sensitive, but I shouldn’t have…’

‘Not because they’re weak,’ he elaborated, ‘because she’s the kind of person whose retribution should be feared.’

‘I didn’t mean it!’ he exclaimed. ‘It’s just… the way she’s attacking you and…!’

Usagi stepped forward to stand before him. ‘I don’t need you to defend my honour, Leo. If she wants to try and play mind games, then let her. It will wear thin eventually.’

‘I can’t just sit around while she’s hurting you. But I didn’t mean to strike back so hard, just…’

Usagi moved even closer and rested a hand on his cheek. ‘Her technique is also quite effective,’ he admitted. ‘Perhaps we should all cool off before having a conversation about what happened.’

Leo sighed and slumped forward, forehead almost touching Usagi’s now. ‘All right, fine.’

Usagi touched his nose to his forehead and took hold of his hand. ‘Let’s head back.’

* * *

 

The lair was a lot more active than he thought it’d be by the time they got back. Leo quickly made his way to the bathroom once he’d identified it as the source of all the havoc. His eyes widened when he saw Donnie and Raph kneeling by the bath side, and Mona Lisa crouching in the bath. It didn’t take him long to put two and two together.

‘Do you need me to get anything?’ he asked, knowing he didn’t have much to offer in terms of actually helping with the labour.

‘It’s fine,’ Donnie replied quickly. ‘Only one left now. Want to put some food together so Mona Lisa can eat later?’

Leo had a million questions he wanted to ask, like whether it had actually worked, but knew the answers would have to wait until later. ‘No problem, just give me a yell if you need anything else.’

Usagi silently helped him prepare the meal, where he could. It seemed like no time at all before Donnie made his way into the kitchen. He’d clearly just washed and disinfected his hands in the bathroom sink.

‘Ok, it looks like everything worked out as planned. But uh, Mona may or may not have monopoly over the bathtub for the next few days. She didn’t seem keen about moving the eggs any time soon…’

Leo made a soft sound of amusement. ‘Looks like we’re going to be seeing a lot more of April’s bathroom again,’ he muttered, referring to the last time they’d had water quality issues. ‘Anyway, we made fried rice, if she’s up to eating it. How long do you think it’ll take for the eggs to hatch?’

‘I don’t know. She said it normally takes about a month. It could be shorter though, since we can control the temperature they’re exposed to, and they already seem to be quite developed. We should be able to travel with them once Mona’s protective instincts calm down, hopefully in a few days,’ he added, seeming to have understood why Leo had asked the question.

‘All right,’ he replied with a nod. ‘We should head out to the farm house when she’s feeling better then, before it gets too cold.’ Leo sat at the table and folded his arms. ‘Is there anything else you can tell about the babies yet?’

Donnie smiled softly. ‘Two of them seem to be more Salamandrian in nature, and the third is like us. I think two of them are girls, and one of the Salamandrians is a boy, but I could be wrong there.’

Leo hadn’t really been expecting their number to suddenly increase by three. ‘Sounds like we’ll have to rethink our living arrangements sooner or later, or we’re going to run out of room.’

‘Way ahead of you,’ Donatello replied as he gathered a portion of food each for Raph and Mona. ‘I’ve already identified a wall we can safely knock out to make more rooms. We can get Raph and Casey onto it when we get back from visiting sensei.’

‘Great,’ Leo replied with a nod. Though, now he felt more pressure than ever to get a hold of things and make everything right for his family. He couldn’t afford to mess this up as well.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short chapter, but I thought this scene might work better alone ;)

Usagi hadn’t caught a glimpse of Karai in the three days since she had essentially told him he didn’t belong in this world. But apparently she had found out they would be leaving for the so called farmhouse in the morning, because he could hear her moving around in the dojo as she packed her things.

Usagi stood up from the table and moved to the sink to wash his cup out. Leo should be back from his shortened patrol soon to help finish packing the vehicles. He planned to give Leo his gift then, so he could choose whether he wanted to wear it to the cleaning of the grave. It didn’t seem the event was usually all that formal in their family, but since Karai was here this time, it might be a little different.

Usagi moved Chompy to the corner of the benchtop, away from the sink, as he gave the kitchen benches a tidy and wipe down. The small turtle-like creature seemed less energetic than usual. Usagi wondered if it was because Raphael wouldn’t let him near the eggs, and he never left his partner’s or the eggs’ side.

‘Things will sort themselves out soon,’ Usagi murmured absently.

Leo and Mikey entered the lair just as he was finishing up. Mikey gave him a wide smile before picking up Chompy and cooing as he tickled his plastron. He began dancing out of the room and humming as he made his way down the hall, presumably to his own bedroom.

Leo slowly shook his head as he watched his brother make his unconventional exit. ‘You’d think I’d be used to his outbursts of weirdness by now.’

‘To be fair, your brother’s mind doesn’t seem to work in the same way as anyone else’s,’ Usagi replied with a small shrug.

Their attention snapped to the door to the dojo when it suddenly slid open. Karai stepped into the room, carrying her suitcase. She avoided their eyes when she spoke. ‘The cars are still outside the lab?’

‘Yeah, but I can take it with the last of the other stuff. You can just leave it there if you want,’ Leo replied.

Karai nodded slightly. ‘Thanks,’ she said before retreating into the other room again.

Leo turned his attention back to Usagi, still looking guilty about what had happened the other day. ‘Is there anything else you need to pack?’

‘No, but I have something you might decide to take,’ Usagi replied. When Leo gave him a curious look he began walking toward the turtle’s room. Leo followed him and closed the door behind them as Usagi knelt down by the bag that held the folded hakama, kimono and haori he’d had made.

‘This is for you, but it didn’t seem like the right time to bring it up before.’ He’d have preferred to give it to Leo and leave him to look at it later, but he would probably need help putting the clothing on, so he decided to stay.

Leo’s brow rose as he retrieved the clothing from within the bag. ‘This is… traditional formal clothing?’ he asked, inspecting the various items.

‘I thought training in it might be of interest to you, since you are a user of katana and similar blades. Although, if you’re going to be encountering other clan leaders more regularly, it might be good to have something more formal to conduct meetings in. If you would like to wear it tomorrow, we can make sure it has been sized correctly now.’

‘I think I will. I saw Karai had her formal attire laid out in the dojo earlier today. She might appreciate it if we’re a little more formal about the proceedings this year, like we were in the first year.’

‘Do you need my help to get changed?’

Leo just laughed as he began removing his gear. ‘Yes please, I wouldn’t even know where to start.’

Usagi nodded and picked up the dark blue undershirt first. He was glad to find it was nearly the same shade as Leo’s faded mask. ‘This is designed to be the bottom layer. You’ll see a little of the colour under the outer layer, and it’s made of lighter material.’

Leo slid in one arm, then the other, and seemed to figure out how the ties worked on his own. There was an extra panel in the back to make it fit comfortably around his shell. Usagi was satisfied with how it fit.

‘Next is the kimono top, it works in much the same way though the fabric is nicer,’ he explained as he picked up the black garment so Leo could put his arms in it as well.

‘Now the hakama, right?’ Leo asked, seeming to have figured out what order everything had to be put on and taken off now. He turned to the folded and tied garment, but didn’t seem to be quite sure what he should do with it next.

‘Yes, the most complicated part,’ Usagi replied, only half teasing. He slowly untied the knots of the straps that would tie the garment around his waist and shell. The straps were thicker and longer than usual, and the stiffened material that generally rested against one’s lower back was shaped differently to accommodate his body shape. ‘Step into them and I will show you how to tie it correctly.’

When he was done, he found the dark grey hakama were slightly too long, but taking the hem up a couple of centimetres wouldn’t take that long. The hakama flared wider to the bottom than his own to accommodate the way a turtle’s body didn’t narrow to waist and hips.

Usagi frowned as he positioned the pleats of the hakama while looking into the dirty mirror that leaned against Leo’s wall. He was suddenly reminded of his early days as a retainer. His lord’s tiny household could barely afford to hire him, so he’d taken on a few servant duties here and there. Making him look presentable for meetings was something he almost remembered fondly now. He rubbed the scar above his eye before standing again.

‘One last thing, of course.’ There was no mystery to the black haori, so he left Leo to pull it on himself. Leo’s mouth opened slightly when he saw the Hamato clan symbol painted on each side of the chest and a small round one on the back to sit between his shoulder blades.

‘I hope you don’t mind me taking one of the shuriken for reference,’ Usagi added, retrieving the wrapped blade from the bottom of the bag.

‘O-of course not,’ Leo stuttered. ‘This is… thank you, Usagi.’

Leo’s soft expression brought back another memory of his first employer. ‘It’s nothing,’ he insisted automatically as he turned away. He was hardly Leo’s retainer, but he suddenly felt a pressure he hadn’t before. Leo was the main target of his family’s enemies. Usagi couldn’t afford to make the same mistake again.

‘Are you all right?’ Leo asked suddenly, snapping Usagi out of his fugue.

‘I’m fine, just worried about what might be in our near future.’

‘You mean the rebellious branches of the Foot clan?’ Leo asked. It had clearly been on his mind the past few days as well. ‘I wouldn’t care if they were just after me, but I don’t doubt they’d go after my family to get to me. It’s no longer just me and my brothers anymore, though. I’m tempted to go with what Karai wants, but I honestly don’t know whether it’d guarantee our safety.’

A smile tugged at the corner of Usagi’s mouth. ‘It’s your decision, Leo. I won’t think or feel differently about you either way. But if you knew how many married women I’ve tried to convince to run away with me, you probably wouldn’t think of me the same way.’

Leo scoffed and shoved him playfully so he’d fall back onto the bed. Usagi felt himself bounce slightly before Leo leaned over him. His breath caught at the speed of his movement, and the way his knee was resting between his. Usagi’s heart beat a bit faster, certainly not disliking the position he’d found himself in.

‘What is _that_ supposed to mean?’ Leo’s expression turned a little more serious, though he tried to maintain his lighter tone. ‘Are you going to get sick of me if I make you stay in the same place for too long?’

‘Well, you’re not exactly employing me to be your sword. I missed out on having a family the first time I fell in love. I don’t intend to do it again.’

Leo lowered himself over him, cheeks warming and lips slightly parted. Usagi glanced down at the way his formal attire enhanced his handsome silhouette. Leo’s mouth met his tentatively. Usagi reached up to cup his face and attempted to bring him in to deepen the kiss. Leo went along with this for a few moments before gently pulling away. Usagi let him go, knowing he would return in his own time.

‘We should finish packing,’ Leo murmured as he shuffled back to his feet. He stretched his hands out to Usagi, offering to help him back up.

Usagi took his hands and let himself be pulled to his feet. ‘Right, we have an early start tomorrow,’ he conceded. But the slight tension that had been building in his lower belly didn’t fully dissipate. He wondered if Leo felt the same way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Never forget that Usagi is basically both a deadbeat dad and a player, Leo… :P


	12. Chapter 12

Leo wished he could sleep in the back seat for a bit longer, but Casey needed a break from driving and they didn’t really want to stop anywhere longer than they had to. He suppressed another yawn as he checked the rear view mirror again, and spotted Usagi still gazing out the window of the van.

He’d unpicked the hem of Leo’s hakama this morning and used the iron and sewing kit – the one Donnie kept around in case he needed to make something with it for one of his inventions – to measure and pin a new hem. He’d spent the first half of the car trip sewing as evenly as he could in a moving car, and was now sitting with the garment fixed and folded in his lap.

Now that he thought about it, they weren’t that far away from their destination. He wondered if the samurai would feel more comfortable out here than in the sewer. It was certainly a lot more like what he was used to, at any rate.

When Leo spotted the familiar tree line that made up the patch of forest near the house, he knew they really were almost there. It would be maybe another ten minutes before they pulled up at the house. Almost as soon as he realised this, a feeling of dread clawed at his insides so sharply that he nearly veered off the road.

‘ _You ok back there?’_ Donnie asked over the radio they had hooked up to quickly transmit messages between the vehicles.

‘No, actually. Find somewhere to pull over,’ Leo said hurriedly. ‘Something’s not right at the farmhouse, I don’t think we should go charging in there like this.’

There was a short pause before Donnie answered. ‘ _If I remember right, the roadside widens a bit just down here. It should do for now. April agrees that she feels like something is off._ ’

Karai glanced at Leo from the passenger seat, question and concern in her eyes. He could tell she wanted to ask, but realised it was better to wait until everyone could talk together.

Though his intuition was sharper than ever these days, it didn’t usually shock him in such a debilitating way. He wondered if that had been his father trying to warn them. Leo’s mind raced, trying to think of the best way to approach this without putting the little ones at risk.

By the time they pulled over, the stress had him wide awake. He parked in a way that would obscure the back of the Shell Raiser from traffic in both directions, then hopped out of the van as the back of the other vehicle opened up. Mikey, Karai and Usagi were close behind him. April, Casey and Donnie made their way out of the Shell Raiser while Mona and Raph remained inside it near the plastic tub that held the jelly-like eggs in a layer of water.

Leo gauged his brothers’ moods, noticing Raph looked grim and Mikey seemed a bit nauseous. ‘I wasn’t the only one who felt that, right?’ he began quietly.

‘Since you nearly ran right off the road, I don’t think I felt it as strongly as you,’ April replied, followed by a short, nervous laugh. ‘We’re still a bit far away, but when we get closer I can scan the area for mental presences.’

It seemed Mikey didn’t want to add anything, so Leo left him to think for a bit longer. ‘Right, it’s too dangerous to take the little ones any closer.’ He knew Raph wasn’t going to like what was going to say next, but he needed him with the team. ‘Mona, Casey and Usagi should stay here to protect them. The Shell Raiser’s sensors will be able to tell you if anyone or anything is approaching you, no matter how stealthy they might be.

‘Everyone else will go down to the farmhouse for some recon. April, Donnie and Mikey will go ahead to find out what they can. Raph, Karai and I will take whatever route you identify to be best, or we’ll jump in to support you if something goes wrong.’ He stopped and looked at Raph, waiting for his inevitable rejection of his idea.

‘Leo…’ he muttered, knowing he didn’t really need to say anything else.

‘You know their fighting styles mean they’re better at defending a static position. I need your ability to be stealthy to help find out what’s going on down there.’ But he knew simply presenting logic wouldn’t be enough to convince his brother. ‘Don’t you trust them to be able to do that? Mona, Casey?’ He didn’t bother to mention Usagi at this point since he was sure his brother didn’t so much as trust Usagi as respect the skills he did have.

‘If anything happened that could have been prevented if I was here…’

‘Nothing will happen, they’re all perfectly capable and know what they’re doing. I need you to be focused on what we’re doing down there. We don’t know what we’re up against yet.’

Karai had turned away to speak on her phone. She started speaking rapidly in extremely casual Japanese. Leo thought he heard her mention “Shini” before she moved out of earshot. Hopefully she would be able to give them some idea of who they were dealing with before they went down there.

‘Come on Raph, you know you don’t have to worry about kidnappers or freaks who’d do worse if Casey Jones is onto it!’ Casey nudged him, only making Raph tighten his grip on the corner of the container that held his developing children.

‘I think your brother is right, Raphael,’ Mona said, meeting his eyes with an intense look. ‘I’m a soldier, I know how to handle something like this.’

‘What’ll Leo do if he encounters someone of my skill level and you’re not there?’ Usagi added, only partially joking. But using an appeal to his brother’s ego seemed to be what finalised the decision in his head.

‘All right, fine. Just don’t get so caught up in tooting your own horn that you forget what you’re supposed to be doing here,’ Raph grumbled.

‘Don’t forget Chompy and ICK,’ Mikey added, going back to the van to retrieve the ice box and Chompy’s travel tank. The glass prevented him from setting the seat covers on fire, at least.

Leo held his hand out to Raph to help him to his feet outside the vehicle, just as Karai returned. ‘Thanks,’ he said to his brother, glad he was going to trust his discretion. ‘Anything?’ he asked Karai.

‘Shini has been tracking the passports of clan members we’ve been concerned about. Only one group has come to America recently. The leader is known as Shiroshi. He tends to prefer fighting from a distance, and is particularly skilled with the bow. Going against him and his people in the middle of the day could be challenging, to say the least.’

‘Then we won’t go in for a confrontation right away. We just need to get close enough to let April and Donnie search the area with their respective abilities and devices. They might not even still be there, it could just be a trap, or they’ve done some other horrible thing to the place.’

Sensing he was about to suggest they get a move on, Raph turned to Mona Lisa. She took him into an embrace and pressed her nose to his, not at all shy about showing their affection for each other, as usual.

Usagi turned to Leo and Karai. ‘You should both tread with caution here. Undoubtedly they have come here to provoke you all. Getting swept up in an emotional reaction could be dangerous.’

‘Obviously,’ Karai murmured, though there was no harshness in her tone. ‘What I want to know is how they even found out about this place.’

‘Me too,’ Leo replied, ‘but there’s no point in speculating about it right now. We can worry about that when this is over and done with.’

When Leo turned back to gather his team, he saw Donnie was reminding Casey of how everything in the armoured vehicle worked. He didn’t interrupt, knowing it would be important for them to know what options were available and how to use them.

‘The weapons outside might be more trouble than they’re worth, since any of you being in the open will be a risk. You can disable their manual processes here if needed.’ Donnie grabbed Casey by the shoulders and turned him to face him. ‘Are you listening Jones? This is important.’

‘Of course I am,’ Casey snapped. ‘I’m not a kid anymore.’

April stepped between them, a light hand on each of their arms. ‘What he means is, be careful Casey. We’re going to be worrying about you.’

Casey shifted uncomfortably. ‘You guys too,’ he muttered before wrapping an arm around each of them.

Leo approached Mikey, who still looked mildly nauseous. ‘Are you all right?’

He glanced up from where he was crouching by the roadside, doodling in the gravel with a stick. ‘I don’t think we’re going to like what we see when we get down there,’ he muttered. ‘I get the shivers every time I look over there.’

‘We’ll find a way to deal with it once we know what it is,’ Leo assured him, though that was difficult to do when he wasn’t entirely sure what was wrong yet. ‘It’s not like we’ve never faced a competent Foot ninja before.’

That brought a small smile to his brother’s face as he stood up straight. ‘Well, sounds like these guys are going to be next level. I hope our training is going to pay off.’

It was Leo’s turn to grimace now. If it didn’t, it would be his fault as the teacher. ‘Me too.’ Before Mikey could notice what he’d caused him to feel, Leo turned to address the others. ‘All right, everyone gear up so we can put this plan into motion.’

* * *

 

Usagi, Casey and Mona stood in a circle in the back of the Shell Raiser with the eggs in the middle of them. ‘So, how is this going to work?’ Usagi asked. ‘We don’t know anything about each other’s strengths, do we?’

The other two glanced at each other and shook their heads. ‘Not really,’ Casey replied. ‘I guess I know the most about how this thing operates, though I’m no Donatello. I can help detect them and keep them away, then switch to close range if worse comes to worst.’

‘I am also experienced in both ranged and close combat. I can focus on the opposite direction to the one you’re focusing on, or provide support if you start getting overwhelmed.’ Mona stated as she checked her blaster over one last time.

Usagi nodded. ‘I’m definitely close range, and experienced with being a bodyguard. I can stay in here and guard the eggs from anyone or anything that manages to slip past you two. Remember, don’t expose yourselves too much. If these ninjas manage to sneak up on us for even a moment, we’re dead.’

Casey grimaced and nodded. Usagi and Mona were used to putting their lives on the line, but Casey seemed to be bothered by the reminder. ‘Don’t worry, we will all help each other where possible,’ Mona promised. ‘Raphael would never forgive me if I let anything happen to you, either.’

‘All right,’ Casey said with a nod and plenty of false bravado. ‘We can totally handle this!’

The Shell Raiser shuddered and they heard an odd high pitched noise before all the screens and lights flickered off at once. Usagi stepped back, lightly placing his back foot on the lid of the box so he’d be able to feel if anyone tried to get into it. He drew his swords and closed his eyes, knowing it would take time for them to adjust to the sudden darkness.

‘Was that an EMP?’ Casey muttered. The wood of his baseball bat tapped against something accidentally. It looked like they would have to rely on their own senses for the moment.

‘Probably. Time to live up to those words,’ Mona replied as she got into position to open the hatch in the roof of the vehicle. ‘We’ve got to keep them off of us.’

Casey drew a can of paint and nodded. Mona shoved the hatch open and Casey began spraying.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter is a lot gorier than the rest of the story so far (and the show itself). But still zero deaths, dw

Leo held his phone to his ear while he waited for Donnie and April to finish their assessment. Karai sat stiffly next to him, and Raph spun a sai back and forth restlessly where he was crouching on the tree branch behind them. He hoped it wouldn’t take too much longer, or the three of them might tire themselves out from anxiety.

‘ _Ok_ ,’ Donnie said quietly. ‘ _Seems there are five actual people inside the house. There’s about twenty Foot bots patrolling the area, from what I can see. If we take them out it could alert them to our presence, but leaving them will make sneaking around more difficult_.’

‘All right, good work. Come back to a safe distance so we can discuss the details,’ Leo replied, but he was cut off but April hissing, ‘ _Watch out_!’ on the other end. ‘You guys ok?’ he asked quickly, getting into a crouching position instead.

‘ _N-nearly got an arrow to the neck_ ,’ Donnie replied shakily. ‘ _Thanks April_.’

‘We’ll try to draw their fire so you three can retreat,’ Leo said quickly. ‘Get back to the others as fast as you can, they’ve obviously planned this well.’

‘ _Is that…? Oh my god, that’s sick_ ,’ he heard Mikey mutter in the background. ‘ _Leo, whatever you do, stay away from Splinter’s grave_.’

Something about the way he said that struck a nerve in Leo. Whatever they’d done to the grave must have been what set his intuition off. If their aim was to provoke them, Leo was worried they’d succeed.

‘Don’t worry about us right now, just get out of there,’ he replied. He hung up the phone and turned to nod in Raph’s direction. He twirled both of his sai into a ready position.

Leo advanced through the trees and came to a halt in the top of one of the taller ones. If they were shooting at them from the house, they’d easily be able to see him up here. He cupped his hands around his mouth and made a loud whooping sound. The speed with which the shots turned in his direction was a little disconcerting, but it was exactly what he’d wanted.

He drew his swords, intent on deflecting the arrows he didn’t have time to dodge, but April put up a mental barrier for him from her new hiding position. If they couldn’t hide the fact they were able to use a power like that, then making it unclear which of them was doing it could only be a good thing.

Leo advanced again, hoping to push the others out of sight and mind of their attackers. ‘I’m the one you’re looking for, right?’ he yelled. He couldn’t help the way his eyes slid to where he knew his father’s grave was.

The sight made him freeze up with a mix of disgust and rage. Before another barrage of arrows could hit him, he felt Raph grab him under the arms and pull him backward. They came to a halt at the base of the tree trunk, out of the archers’ sights, for now. Raph had a grip on him from behind, trapping his arms against his sides. But the strength of his grip and the sharpness of his breaths indicated he was equally as pissed off.

‘Come on Leo, you’re supposed to be setting a good example for me,’ he muttered.

‘Do as I say, not as I do,’ Leo replied, still trying to bleach the sight of the dug up grave and cracked skull pinned to the tree with an arrow from his memory. ‘I think I’m going to throw up.’

‘Plenty of time for that later. We need to get out of here alive first.’

They both glanced up as Karai flitted through the treetops above them. ‘That’s enough!’ she yelled. ‘I order you all to stand down!’

‘Stand down?’ someone replied, though the arrows did stop flying for the moment. ‘We’re trying to avenge our clan leader. A new one can’t be appointed until we do so, or are you still choosing to ignore that little fact? As his daughter, surely it should be your only focus.’

‘Shredder’s mental faculties were deteriorating by that point. Someone who is insane can’t be named leader,’ she argued as she continued to approach the house, in the direction of the voices. ‘Besides, don’t you think it’s about time we ended this prolonged feud with the Hamato clan?’

‘They can’t be trusted. Haven’t you, yourself, tried to form a temporary alliance with them only to be stabbed in the back?’

Karai’s stance became more defensive as she came to a halt in front of the window the chatty one seemed to have been shooting out of. Leo wondered if that was Shiroshi, the one she’d been most worried about.

‘I don’t know how you know about that,’ she said loudly, ‘but we were all children back then. It would be foolish to continue holding a grudge over something like that.’

‘You are allowed to be a little upset about your father, though.’

Karai shifted restlessly. Leo guessed the sight of the grave had bothered her as much as them, but she couldn’t afford to let it show. ‘Like I said, he lost his sanity long before he died. I have already mourned that. Besides, the Hamato have saved the Earth multiple times. If it weren’t for them, none of us would be here.’

‘Be that as it may, the integrity of our clan is the most important thing. What is it that makes you trust the Hamato now when we despised them before?’

Leo realised this discussion was why Karai had been trying to get him to sign her marriage agreement. If she could turn around and say they were family now when they weren’t before, it would address their doubts. He’d been wasting time with his feelings when he should have been trying to help her. And now, it seemed, they were going to pay for that lapse in judgement.

* * *

 

The ninja standing over the door in the roof of the vehicle had been wearing a mask and goggles, so the paint itself didn’t do much damage to him. It did, however, blind him and make him stumble back instinctively, so far that he fell off the roof of their vehicle.

Unfortunately the device that was jamming their electronics still seemed to be active, so they couldn’t use any of their automated defences. The advantage was that their robots couldn’t come close to them, though.

Usagi remained near the tub, listening carefully to the movements outside. Casey had his mission, to knock the EMP out from wherever it was attached to the vehicle. Mona would provide cover, though her own blaster also appeared to be on the fritz. But after she punched straight up so hard she sent a robotic intruder flying off the roof, he began to worry about them a bit less.

And that was fine with him, when he had enough on his plate as it was. From the sound of it, Mona has jumped on the manually operated cannon. There was a bang below him and then a crunch before the lights and screens inside the Shell Raiser flickered back on.

Usagi heard something that sounded like Casey yelling like a scared child, but the sound of Mona’s cannon firing assured him he could hold his position. And it was a good thing he did when a pair of robot ninjas pried the ceiling hatch back open again and dropped down. Usagi drew his second sword now that his opponents were in sight.

A human, he could tell by the way she moved, swung down as well, using her momentum to fly through the air at him feet first. Usagi calmly dodged the blow, never moving more than a few centimetres away from the precious quarry he was guarding.

The robots advanced before he could return to his original position, both of their blades flying at him in the cramped space, perfectly calculated to not get stuck on something or bounce off the walls. He blocked one sword, creating an opening and stepping out of the way, letting the weapon coming at him slide into the other robot’s torso instead. In the commotion, the woman stabbed downward with her own blade, clearly aiming for one of the eggs through the clear lid of the box.

Usagi grunted in the back of his throat as he kicked her in the gut. His powerful strike winded her and knocked her against the back wall of the vehicle. He glanced at his remaining opponent, but didn’t realise his lapse in judgement until it was too late. The sword sticking in the first robot hadn’t done anything whatsoever to incapacitate it. The knife now stuck in his gut, however, was something else.

Usagi doubled over, dropping to his knees on top of the box and cursing himself for a fool. He’d fought a wide variety of opponents before, but going sword to sword with a robot was a new one. Putting his body in the way might at least buy the others a few more seconds to get to the little ones…

He hadn’t noticed the back doors of the Shell Raiser open, but smack of wood against a small piece of plastic was somehow deafening. Usagi dropped his swords to reach up and flatten his ears against his head just as the puck blew up above him. The human ninja dropped to the floor in front of him and stayed down, this time.

The blast of lasers burnt over his head next, and the robots followed their leader down shortly after, crumpling into a mechanical heap, now headless.

‘Phew, that was a close one!’ Casey commented as he pushed his mask up, revealing a wide and almost toothless grin. His expression quickly dropped when he noticed the dark stains spreading across his clothes. ‘Shit dude!’ he exclaimed, suddenly next to him and gently pulling him off the box to sit against the wall.

Mona helped keep him steady as he was moved, before turning away to pull the lid off her babies and murmuring something in a guttural language. Usagi didn’t need to be able to understand her to know she was saying something along the lines of ‘Mummy’s here.’

Casey was pulling another box out of a cupboard, snapping it open and upending its contents, spilling bandages and medicines everywhere in his quest for a manoeuvrable blade other than the one that had been stuck inside him. He snatched up the scissors and tore into Usagi’s shirts where they surrounded the blade still sticking out of him.

He stuck his tongue out as he rolled up a triangular bandage and wrapped it around the blade to help prevent it from moving around and slicing up his insides all the more. He secured it all in place by roughly yet firmly wrapping a bandage around his torso above and below the wound. ‘We took care of all the other bots up here, far as we know,’ Casey explained quickly. ‘We need to get you to Leo and Donnie, though!’

‘You two go down there,’ Mona replied quietly, suddenly standing and tossing the three Foot ninjas out the back of the vehicle. The woman was still alive, but wisely stayed down, Usagi noticed. ‘I need to hide my babies out here.’

‘I’m not sure we should split up,’ Casey began.

‘Trust me, I will be able to look after them better this way. Tell Raphael I’m heading toward water.’ She hefted the box onto her shoulder and exited the vehicle through the back door as well. She closed the door on them before Casey could protest further.

‘All right, well, you’d better hang onto something. Can’t promise it’s going to be a smooth ride down there,’ Casey said as he swung himself into the driver’s seat. ‘For some reason I get the feeling these chumps were just put up here to distract us.’

Usagi just hoped Leo wasn’t in as much trouble as he was. ‘Then let’s get down there.’


	14. Chapter 14

Leo flinched back as the Shell Raiser careened onto the lawn and skidded to a halt in front of him. Casey exited it through the back, using the door on his left to protect himself from any potentially incoming shots.

‘Leo!’ he called. ‘You and Don have to do something!’

Raph stiffened beside him when no one else followed Casey out of the vehicle. ‘What happened?’ Leo asked quickly, knowing he couldn’t afford to be the one to freak out again.

‘Usagi’s bleeding really bad man, hurry! Where’s Don?’

Leo pulled his phone out, intent on finding out, as he raced to the back of the Shell Raiser. He barely noticed the way his brother had grabbed Casey and started yelling something at him. He blinked rapidly, trying to get his sight to adjust to the dark interior of the vehicle. Usagi’s top was cut open to clear the wound, so it only hung off one of his shoulders. There were bandages around his torso, providing pressure and holding a short sword in place where it was sticking into the left side of his stomach.

Usagi glanced up at him with a stoic grimace in place. Blood matted the fur on his hands as they held the wounded area, and stained his shirt and hakama a dark colour that made Leo’s stomach turn. ‘Usagi,’ Leo whispered urgently as he dropped to his knees beside him.

It seemed to take him a moment to realise who was talking to him. ‘I stopped them from getting to the eggs. Mona is hiding out with them now. She should be ok, I think we either despatched them or led them all here.’

Leo checked behind him automatically, and couldn’t see anyone yet. Donnie finally picked up as Raph turned away from Casey and disappeared back into the trees. ‘Change of plans, Raph is going to Mona, Usagi and Casey just arrived, the former not holding up great.’

‘ _We didn’t get too far, we’re on our way back to you now. What’s wrong with him? Is there anything you can do for him in the meantime?_ ’

‘Well, there’s a sword sticking out of him, so I don’t really want to remove it. Healing him while it’s in there will only make things worse later.’

At that Usagi’s hand came to rest on his plastron. ‘You call this a sword? It’s a knife, at best.’

Leo rolled his eyes at his comment and covered his hand with his own as he listened carefully. Clearly he’d ended up sitting through Crocodile Dundee with Mikey at some point. But he couldn’t find any amusement in their current situation.

‘ _How much blood has he lost?_ ’ Donnie asked calmly. Leo thought he heard a tree branch creak behind him and hoped it was just a signal of his brother’s arrival.

‘Too much?’ he replied. ‘Casey or Mona already gave him the appropriate first aid but…’ He whipped around as someone landed in the back of the vehicle, but simply hung up the phone as soon as he saw it was Donnie.

‘Shit,’ he muttered and made his way directly to one of the storage compartments to dig out the more serious medical equipment they had on hand.

Leo felt April’s gentle hands on his arm as she pushed him out the way. He complied, letting her lay Usagi down flat and stuff her hoodie under his head.

‘He’s going to need a transfusion soon after we remove the blade,’ Donnie said, ‘but I don’t know if any of our blood will match his given the different evolutionary paths between dimensions.’ He glanced up at Leo for a brief moment between clicking on machines and unravelling something that looked like an IV bag and line. ‘Go stop the fight while I find out more about what we need.’

Leo nodded, immediately seeing the sense in that, and stepped out of the vehicle. His hands were trembling so hard he wasn’t sure whether he’d even be able to draw his swords properly. Mikey joined him in his position, patting Leo’s shoulder.

‘I’ll make sure nothing can sneak up on them while they work,’ he assured, mood still reserved after the events of the day.

Leo nodded gratefully before sidling to the edge of the door and peeking at what was happening on the lawn. From here he could see Karai was still talking to the human clan members. Time seemed to slow for a moment as his father’s voice echoed inside his head. ‘ _The price of focusing on vengeance…_ ’

Leo grimaced as he gripped the door. ‘ _The price of_ not _focusing on it was your life. It only works if there is a mutual will to stop._ ’

A soft sound of amusement. ‘ _Then how are you going to make this desire mutual_?’

Karai seemed to have the right idea, but he was afraid making himself known would only aggravate them. Maybe it was best just to leave her to it and provide support if she needed it? Leo moved as fast as he could, getting around to the side of the house, hopefully without being spotted, so he was close enough to listen but still hidden.

Karai covered the way she instinctively glanced at him when she saw him move in the corner of her eye, but she couldn’t hide her briefly horrified expression from him. Leo glanced down and noticed Usagi had left a bloody handprint on his plastron. Given its shape and their current circumstances, it was likely she had identified it as his already. Leo sent a pleading look her way. He needed her help.

She pressed her lips together and closed her eyes briefly before looking back up at the window from which the other ninja’s voice had been wafting down. ‘All right, listen up. I can see I’m not going to get through to you like this. The truth is, my relationship with the turtles is more complicated than it seems.’

Was this it then? Was she going to tell them that they were married? At this point, Leo would follow through with it if it meant there would be peace long enough for Usagi to recover from the brink of death. Karai had to know this.

‘While it was The Shredder who raised me, my genetic father is Hamato Yoshi.’

Leo frowned and tried to figure out how that would even fit into the story she was going to tell them. It’d only invalidate their purported union, surely?

‘Hamato Yoshi’s DNA is what caused the turtles to mutate into what they are now. So therefore, they are all my half-brothers. Essentially, the Hamato and Foot clans no longer need to be divided. This bitter feud could all end here and now. While it may have been revenge that drove them to kill The Shredder, it’s no secret our leader was no longer sound of mind at the time. What’s done is done. It’s how we move forward from here that really matters.’

Leo couldn’t believe what he was hearing. She could have just made it known that they were technically related all this time? And that meant she was giving up on pursuing him to bring this to a peaceful end?

‘Wouldn’t it make more sense for you to join their clan, then?’ Shiroshi rebutted sharply.

Karai shook her head. ‘The Shredder still considered me to be his daughter and a member of the Foot clan, even after I left his side. It was specifically left in a note in his will that had been dated to shortly before he died. If you continue to stubbornly fight me on this despite the evidence, which I will be making known to the rest of our clan as of right now, your little group will become an enemy of the Foot.’

There was a tap of wood on wood above them. Leo realised they were putting down their bows and arrows. Did that mean her confession had worked? It seemed Karai had learnt a lot over the years she’d spent trying to unite the Foot once more.

‘Then the only remaining question is whether their leader, your brother, is willing to bow to you as members of the Foot.’

Karai turned to him openly this time and held out her hand. ‘Leo? Will you concede the Hamato is now a branch of the Foot clan?’

Leo rose to his feet slowly, still worried about walking out into the open. But there was only one way to find out whether they could be trusted. ‘As long as Karai leads the Foot, the Hamato clan will be part of it,’ he replied carefully.

Karai just smiled at him and inclined her head. ‘And there we have it. We can swear them in formally tomorrow. For now, I believe one of their friends has been grievously injured by one of the bots you took off Shini’s network. I will forgive this purposeful security breach if you swear to fall in line formally tomorrow.’

‘Yes, Master,’ they agreed deferentially. They climbed down from the house and bowed deeply in front of Karai. She finally seemed to relax a little.

‘You can stay at the house tonight, but I expect you to return to Japan after the formalities tomorrow, and after you’ve made amends to our Hamato branch, and to me.’ Karai glanced over her shoulder at the defaced grave significantly.

‘O-of course,’ Shiroshi was hasty to reply.

Leo glanced back when he sensed April approaching them. ‘Leo, it’s like Donnie feared. Usagi’s blood isn’t close enough to a mutant’s or a human’s. We need to find out if one of his relatives is a close enough match. Didn’t you say he had a son?’

‘Yeah, but he’s only thirteen. And how are we supposed to find someone we’ve never met in another dimension? I wouldn’t even know what Usagi’s hometown is called, let alone how to get there.’

‘We have to try, he’s not going to make it otherwise. We can open the portal in the back of the Shell Raiser, let’s go.’

Karai followed them closely. Given the Foot’s involvement with the Kraang, the other ninjas didn’t even look surprised by their talk of other dimensions and mutants. When they entered the vehicle, Leo saw Usagi was barely conscious now, but he did look better overall now that he was being rehydrated and had drugs in his system that would help extend his life a little.

It felt strange that he had to ask, but Leo knelt beside him to speak quietly. ‘Usagi, what is your son’s name? We need to find him and see if he can donate blood to you. It’s the only way you’re going to survive.’

‘A child can only donate so much. Isn’t there an adult relative we can try?’ Donnie asked as he set the portal to open at the coordinates they’d picked Usagi up from when he’d returned to their world.

‘His name is Jotaro. Maybe his parents, Mariko and Kenichi?’ Usagi muttered, somehow managing to keep up with their conversation despite his physical state.

Leo nodded. ‘I’ll be back as soon as I can,’ he murmured.

He was surprised to find Karai waiting by his side as the portal opened. ‘I doubt Usagi’s family is as well travelled as he is. I’m going to have enough trouble understanding them speaking an older form of my native language, I don’t think you’ll have much luck alone,’ Karai explained.

‘Thank you, Karai,’ Leo murmured. ‘You’re amazing.’

She just shrugged one shoulder. ‘Oh, I know,’ she replied lightly as they stepped into the light, but her smile was shy when she glanced back at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t be fooled, Karai’s mood right now is Love Myself by Hailee Steinfeld


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My holiday gift to all of you is a POV other than Leo's or Usagi's, and also Usagi being a moron even in near death.
> 
> (Also this part is a little rushed, but honestly I want to finish this up soon so I can concentrate on writing something else. I don't usually write stuff longer than 25k words :o )

Jotaro had been just about to head out of the village to meet up with Katsuichi-sensei for another few solid months of training when he saw it. He didn’t know what exactly had led him to check the spot he’d secretly watched his father disappear into the mysterious light from a few weeks ago, but his curiosity was going to be rewarded, it seemed.

A turtle and a woman like he’d never seen before emerged from the portal this time. He was a little disappointed to see his father wasn’t with them. He wondered if they were from the place he’d travelled to this time. He was about to step out of hiding when he noticed the turtle was covered in bright blood. Was he injured?

The ninjas paused, looking around silently, as though they could sense his presence somehow. Jotaro instinctively shrank down to hide behind the tree better, but it seemed his movement only made enough noise for them to locate him.

He brought his sword up as they appeared on either side of him, but they seemed to relax when they saw him, rather than get ready to defend themselves. ‘Are you Jotaro?’ the woman asked, stepping back again to give him some space. He lowered the point of his weapon toward the ground, but didn’t sheathe it just yet.

‘How did you know?’ he asked softly.

She glanced at the turtle before giving an explanation. ‘Your father is seriously injured. If he’s going to survive, he’ll need a donation from someone whose blood matches his. I know this a strange and sudden request, but it would be ideal if your parents would come as well.’

He frowned up at the two of them. ‘What does “donation” mean, exactly?’

‘The doctor will take an amount of blood, not enough to affect your health for more than a few hours. But he’ll be able to safely take more from an adult, so if one of them is compatible, that would give him a greater chance of survival.’

Jotaro shifted his weight as he considered her words. They seemed to be sincere, and since they had come out of the same portal he’d seen his father walk into, he felt he had to believe them. ‘How much longer does he have? It’ll take a little while to get back to the house and find my parents.’

‘We don’t know, exactly, but it’s in the range of hours rather than minutes,’ the woman replied.

‘Ok,’ he accepted the explanation with a nod as he sheathed his sword. ‘If we run back it shouldn’t take too long. Follow me.’

The woman turned to her turtle companion and said something quickly, using words he didn’t understand. It sounded a little like what some of the foreign traders who snuck into the country spoke, but he didn’t know enough of their language to be sure. They followed him closely when he started jogging back toward the village and the house that stood at the centre of it.

Fortunately Kenichi was just leaving the house when they arrived. He called out to him as they approached. Kenichi glanced up sharply and his hand immediately went to his sword when he saw the ninjas that were following him. ‘They’re Usagi’s friends,’ he explained briefly, only now realising how bad it looked to have them running after him.

‘What’s going on?’ he asked as he made his way to the edge of the veranda.

Jotaro bit his lip as he came to a halt in front of him. The other two waited a little further back, probably in an attempt to appear less imposing. He was glad they seemed willing to let him explain; it’d be easier for him to convince Kenichi on his own.

‘Usagi is dying,’ he said abruptly. ‘Their doctors say the only way to save his life is replace the blood he’s lost with someone’s who’s compatible. An adult would be able to give enough to save him without putting themselves in danger.’

Kenichi wrinkled his nose at the idea and glanced at the two ninjas standing behind him. Whatever he saw in their eyes seemed to go some way toward convincing him they were telling the truth.

‘How do we determine who is compatible?’

Jotaro turned back to the woman who had done most of the talking before, since they hadn’t gotten that far in their explanation yet. ‘Our doctor can conduct a test with a few drops of blood to see if the potential donors are the same type, and that other things will match well enough to stop Usagi’s body from rejecting it.’

It was difficult for both of them to understand some of the words she used, but they managed to get the gist. ‘You or mother might be close enough? There isn’t much time, from the sounds of it. We should all head to their world and get tested.’

Kenichi slid his shoes off again and headed back inside, hopefully to find Mariko. Jotaro turned back to the ninjas, glad it was so early in the day, so fewer people would see their visitors from another world. ‘So, how do you know my father?’ he asked quietly, curious.

‘Leo here was brought to your world with his brothers several years ago, I think that’s when they met. Leo can’t speak this language well,’ she explained why she was talking for him. ‘You don’t know English, do you?’

‘I recognise a little Portuguese thanks to the traders that travel this area, but that’s about it,’ he admitted.

‘I can understand more than I can speak,’ Leo said slowly, not quite using the right grammar form, but Jotaro understood what he meant.

‘Sorry, I’ll try to speak slower.’

Both of his parents returned to the entranceway, carrying light travel bags and sliding their shoes on. His mother left a written note addressed to Katsuichi-sensei in the door jamb. She looked afraid and worried. It wasn’t the first time Jotaro wondered whether she still harboured feelings for his real father. It didn’t escape his notice that he didn’t have any younger brothers or sisters.

‘Which way?’ Kenichi asked once they were both stepping off the veranda.

‘The door to their world is just outside our village. It’s how Usagi got there after his last visit.’

They kept up with his fast walk back toward the edge of the village, but still looked confused. ‘To their world? Just where are we going Jotaro?’ his mother asked.

Jotaro glanced back at their ninja companions. ‘The future, right? That’s why your medicine is so advanced?’ he asked the woman who could keep up with their conversation easily.

‘It’s not just the future. Other things are different there too. But we can explain all that after we get Usagi stable,’ she replied. ‘Here’s the portal. Follow us through, ok? I promise it’s safe.’

* * *

 

The three rabbits wore wondrous expressions as they passed through the portal, but they quickly turned to worry when they saw the state Usagi was in. Jotaro cried out as he started forward and dropped to his knees by Usagi’s side.

‘Usagi,’ Mariko gasped, and wasn’t far behind her son. Kenichi followed more slowly, taking in their surroundings with a critical eye. Given he was surrounded by foreign technology and unknown people, Leo couldn’t really blame him for his caution.

Usagi had started at his son’s sudden outburst, but Donnie had got him to settle down again before he could do any more damage to himself. Usagi squinted up at his family now. ‘I’m glad you could make it to my death bed Jotaro, but did you have to bring Kenichi?’

Kenichi scoffed and folded his arms. ‘We’re here to make sure this doesn’t become your death bed, you fool.’

‘Karai, can you explain the blood test to them?’ Donnie asked as the two older men continued to trade insults Leo didn’t understand. ‘I just need to prick their skin with this and compare the read out to the one we took from Usagi earlier. It’s not totally accurate, but it’ll have to do.’

Karai turned away to do so, and Leo stood back next to Kenichi so he could keep an eye on Usagi without crowding him any further. The three rabbits moved away and allowed Donnie to prick their fingers with his device, giving them a cotton ball afterward to stem what little blood flowed. It only did so much with their fur in the way.

Leo took his chance to shuffle forward, and adjusted the hoodie April had folded up and put under Usagi’s head earlier so it would provide more support. ‘Did you know that Miyamoto Musashi remained undefeated throughout his life, winning over sixty duels?’ Leo said softly, a slight teasing tone in his voice. He couldn’t help but smirk at the way it sounded like a Chris Bradford Fact.

Usagi snorted, trying not to contract his abdomen in his amusement. ‘Robots, my one weakness.’ He ran his eyes over Leo, concerned. ‘You should clean up,’ he said, hand lightly touching the dried blood he’d left there earlier. Leo noticed Donnie or April must have washed Usagi’s hands when they’d cleaned the area around his wound.

‘You’re the one who made that mess in the first place,’ Leo reminded. But he turned away when Donnie started speaking. Leo didn’t really realise how intimate they were being until he saw the looks Mariko and Kenichi were giving him. Embarrassed, he stood quickly to listen.

‘While Mariko and Jotaro are much closer to his blood composition than any of us, Kenichi matches him almost exactly. If I draw from him now and make the transfer, everything should work out fine,’ Donnie explained, assisted by Karai. ‘It’ll be easier to concentrate if anyone not involved in the procedure goes back to the farmhouse. I’ll want to move Usagi to a proper bed after the operation, so if someone can set that up now, that’d be good.’

Leo nodded, glad to distract himself by taking charge of sorting something important out. Mariko and Jotaro followed Karai and Mikey out of the vehicle, but Usagi tapped Leo on the calf before he could go along with them. He crouched down once more to see what the samurai wanted to add.

Usagi grabbed the strap of his sword harness that ran across his chest and pulled him down so that their lips would meet. Leo was embarrassed since there were still other people around, but every surgery came with its risks. He couldn’t waste this opportunity. He tenderly stroked his thumb through the fur on Usagi’s cheek.

He pulled back slightly to look Usagi in the eye. Usagi turned his face to murmur something against the side of his head. ‘Leo, did you know that kissing on the mouth isn’t considered to be all that romantic where I’m from? It’s the kind of erotic foreplay you’d only see in pornographic art prints.’

Leo froze as his face burnt up. Kenichi was still in here, possibly able to see what they were doing.

‘Make sure you survive the procedure so I can hit you for that when you wake up,’ he hissed just as quietly.

Usagi just laughed loudly as Leo turned away and left. Leo told himself he had no sympathy for the way Usagi winced and held his wound a moment later. The kiss had felt nice, though he still made sure to avoid looking at the others as he left the Shell Raiser.

In the meantime he had to organise sleeping arrangements, and what they were going to do with the Foot clan members still hanging around. He had to remind himself that he was now technically also a member of their clan.

As he trailed behind the others heading toward the house, he couldn’t get the image of Usagi smirking up at him out of his head. He reminded himself to focus on the task at hand, knowing it was unlikely he was going to have any time alone any time soon.


	16. Chapter 16

When Usagi woke, it seemed to be late in the morning. Judging from the light filtering in between the curtains, midday was fast approaching. He felt like he’d just slept for a very long time, and he couldn’t feel his injuries at all. Perhaps it was going to kick in a bit later.

He turned his head slightly to see Michelangelo slouching in an armchair, determinedly keeping his eyes open and on the screen of his handheld console. He glanced up when he noticed his movement and smiled, looking relieved.

‘Finally, dude! Didn’t think I could take another twelve hour watch.’ He turned the game off and put it aside, while picking his phone up with his other hand.

‘Sorry to be an inconvenience,’ Usagi said with a smirk.

Mikey poked his tongue out at him as he waited for the person on the other end to pick up. ‘Hey Leo, wherever you are, Usagi just woke up. Yeah, seems fine. I’ll stay until you get back.’ Mikey hung up and rubbed at his eyes, suddenly looking like the child Usagi remembered encountering in his world all those years ago.

‘You can go and sleep if you want. I promise I’ll behave until Leo gets here.’

Mikey swung his legs up over the arm of the chair and snuggled into the back of it. ‘Can’t even be bothered moving,’ he muttered. His eyes started to fall shut seemingly without the ninja’s input.

Someone was walking down the corridor outside. When an unfamiliar human ninja passed his doorway, Usagi was glad to find someone had left his tantou under his pillow. But thankfully the ninja passed without so much as looking into the room. Perhaps they had managed to form some sort of alliance after all.

Leo appeared in the window silently, pushing the curtain aside as he slid into the room, because of course using the door was too much to expect. His hands and face were covered in streaks of dirt, but otherwise he looked fine. He approached Usagi’s bedside with a soft smile. It was only now he realised how utterly exhausted he looked.

‘How are you feeling?’

‘All right, so far. But after an injury like that I get the feeling it’s going to hit me any minute.’

He smiled and knelt down, resting his elbows on the edge of the mattress. ‘I don’t think so, I’ve been speeding up the process by healing you whenever I’ve had the energy over the past three days. If you move around too much it might start to hurt, but just let me know and I’ll see what I can do to make it stop.’

Usagi inclined his head. ‘Three days? And the other ninjas are still here?’

‘Karai explained our situation to them, so now they realise vengeance isn’t really going to improve anything even if they are successful. They’ve been helping us repair and improve our father’s grave over the past few days. I think we’ll do the proper cleaning this afternoon.’ He looked back at Mikey, who was now out like a light. ‘Well, this evening, let’s say.’

‘So the two of you are going to…?’

Leo shook his head. ‘She told them we’re her half-brothers, though I think Donnie might have something to say about the science of that one. But, that and officially unofficially swearing myself into the Foot clan was enough to make them stop attacking us.’

Usagi reached out to take hold of his hand, but then remembered he was still filthy from yard work.

‘Ah, yeah, I should get cleaned up. Be back in a bit.’

Leo stepped aside to let Jotaro into the room before leaving. Usagi was a little surprised his son was still in this world, and wondered if either of his parents were, as well. ‘Jotaro,’ he greeted, slowly moving to sit up against the headboard.

‘I’m glad you’re all right,’ he replied, sitting on the edge of his bed. Usagi held his closest arm open to his son. Jotaro smiled and gently curled up against his side. Usagi hadn’t felt anything more from his wound than a slight twinge, so wasn’t too worried about accidentally being injured.

‘Me too,’ he replied lightly. ‘Is Kenichi still here?’

‘No, he had to go back to the village once he was feeling normal again. Mother is still here, though. She didn’t want to leave me here alone. Even though the ninja lady can speak well enough for me to understand, and the others, well, they try.’ He laughed to himself quietly.

‘It can be entertaining,’ Usagi admitted, ‘but at least they’re trying.’

‘Yeah, anyway… I was staying here waiting for you to wake up, but now that you have, I think I should head back and face Katsuichi-sensei.’

‘You dared to ditch sensei in the middle of training?’ Usagi asked, both amused and impressed.

‘Well, to be fair, he hadn’t even arrived at the village when your friends brought us here. I hope he’s still there, anyway, or I’ll have to wait until next year some time.’

They both quietened when Leo entered the room holding a blanket and pillow, suddenly reminding them that Michelangelo was still in the room and trying to sleep. ‘No need to worry, he sleeps like a rock,’ Leo said as he tucked it around his brother and placed the pillow so it’d support his neck better. ‘ _Iwa… no you_?’

Jotaro brought his hand to his mouth, but it didn’t do much to cover his snigger. ‘ _Warauna,_ ’ Usagi scolded, using the harsh language more so Leo wouldn’t understand it and less because he was truly annoyed.

‘S-sorry,’ Jotaro murmured, still smiling wide. ‘ _Shinda you ni_ … _deshou_?’ He tried to keep his language simple so he’d understand, but in a way it also made it more difficult to get what he meant.

‘He means we’d generally say something like he sleeps like the dead,’ Usagi explained.

‘Ha, that’s a bit morbid, isn’t it?’

Usagi translated for Jotaro, who simply shrugged and turned to look up at him with an odd expression. ‘ _What’s that look for?_ ’

‘ _He’s a bit old to be your wakashu, isn’t he?_ ’

Of course he’d only embarrassed Leo by molesting him where everyone could see because he thought he might die at the time. Now he had to live with the consequences, it seemed. ‘ _No, he’s not my wakashu. We just… enjoy each other’s company._ ’

Jotaro frowned lightly at his explanation. _‘Sounds weird.’_

‘ _Then don’t think about it too much,_ ’ he replied shortly. ‘ _They would find your relationship with Katsuichi-sensei “weird”._ ’

That seemed to give Jotaro enough to think about for the moment. Usagi looked back at Leo, noticing how lost he looked. _‘Did you and your mother need to head back soon, then? I can ask them to set up the portal._ ’

 _‘It’s probably best if we do. But I think mother would like a chance to talk to you first._ ’ Jotaro slid off the bed and back to his feet, straightening his yukata before making his way toward the door.

‘Um, what was all that about?’ Leo asked lightly.

‘Secret samurai stuff, you wouldn’t understand,’ Usagi replied with a small smile. It was less of a lie than it seemed. ‘Jotaro and Mariko need to return to their lives soon. Would you be able to get the portal set up for them sometime today?’

‘Of course,’ Leo replied. ‘Seems Donnie is confident he’s worked out most of the kinks now, so all they have to do is let us know when they’re ready.’

Usagi hesitated with his next request. ‘Could you help me clean up and get dressed?’

Leo nodded. ‘I’ll get some water and a flannel. Just wait here a minute.’

Naturally, Usagi ignored that last instruction and shakily made his own way over to his things, which had been piled up at the foot of the bed at some point. He pulled out a clean fundoshi, as well as his formal clothes. He didn’t want to have to go through all this again to get changed in the evening.

He stood again as Leo re-entered the room and closed the door. He looked at Mikey, who still seemed to be sound asleep and shrugged slightly. If he woke up, it wouldn’t really matter. He was just getting changed, after all.

Leo put a towel down on the bedcovers and put the bowl of water on the bedside table, so Usagi could clean himself while sitting. Leo turned away to begin unfolding his clothes when Usagi started removing his fundoshi, still respecting his privacy. Once he’d washed and dried his privates, he put on the fresh underwear before using the other end of the cloth on his face and underarms.

Leo rested the kimono tops beside him before turning back for the hakama. Usagi was able to dress his top half without too much difficulty. Leo knelt in front of him so he could step his feet into the hakama, then brought them up to his knees before pausing. ‘Is tying these on or around your wound going to hurt you?’

‘Probably,’ Usagi admitted.

‘I’ll see if I can do anything,’ Leo replied as he rested his elbows on Usagi’s knees to hold the hakama in place, and then began forming hand seals.

Usagi bit his lip gently as he looked down at the ninja kneeling between his knees. He was glad Leo had his eyes shut as he started to react to his presence. Usagi looked away as Leo placed his hands over where his wound had been, and Usagi felt the tingle of healing energy again. It certainly wasn’t helping.

Leo removed his hands after a while and started to get to his feet. ‘You do realise your pain isn’t the only thing I can feel when I’m in that state, don’t you?’ he asked quietly by his ears.

Usagi felt his face flush, for once in his life. ‘I’m sorry,’ he murmured. ‘And for the other day as well, I…’

‘It’s all right, I understand,’ Leo assured as he encouraged Usagi to get to his feet so he could pull the hakama up the rest of the way. ‘If Mikey wasn’t over there, well…’

Usagi raised his brow. It seemed whatever had been holding Leo back before wasn’t a problem anymore. ‘We’ll have a chance, later tonight. But I believe we both have a few family things to take care of for today.’ He grabbed the back of his hakama and pulled the stiff panel further up his lower back, to where he preferred it to be. Years of habit allowed him to put the rest of it on with ease, glad it would effectively disguise his problem until it went away.

Leo glanced down one last time before moving away again. He returned with Usagi’s swords in hand and gave him time to tie them in place as well. ‘I’ll let Donnie know his portal is required again,’ Leo said before disappearing silently. It was only now Usagi really registered that Leo was fully armed despite being in a place he thought of as home. Perhaps things hadn’t become as friendly between the ninjas as they liked to make out, after all.

Usagi looked at Mikey as he made his way to the door as well. ‘Not a word,’ he said as the young turtle opened his mouth.

Mikey just grinned and snuggled back into the chair. ‘We’ll make a ninja of you yet,’ he murmured.

Usagi closed the door gently behind him, before realising he had no idea where anything was inside this house. He started off in a random direction, hoping to run into either his son or Mariko.

* * *

 

They had all somehow managed to gather in the same place by the time Usagi had figured out where everything was in the house, and managed to get down the stairs to the living room unassisted. At some point Leo and Karai had gotten changed into their own formal outfits. It seemed they would be starting their own ceremony soon after this one.

Mariko approached him, looking him over with a critical eye, probably trying to see if he was hiding the extent of his injury again.

‘Usagi, although it isn’t going change anything, I feel the need to tell you. I still love you.’

He was taken aback by her straightforwardness. But, he realised, this world offered them an escape from the constraints of their own. Kenichi need never know what they did here, nor anyone else they knew. It seemed she needed to know, quickly, what his stance was.

‘I don’t feel the same way anymore,’ he stated just as bluntly.

Jotaro looked between them, looking sad but unsurprised. Usagi got the distinct impression he’d predicted this conversation, and wondered what else he’d managed to figure out on his own.

Mariko nodded once, almost looking relieved. It was disappointing, but things would be a lot simpler this way. Mariko turned to walk across the room toward Leo, and said something too quiet for him to pick up, though Karai was quick to translate.

The way Leo smiled reassured him that it wasn’t anything negative or offensive. Though, it could of course be something negative or insulting about him. That he was fine with.

‘Jotaro, make sure to give your father my thanks. I will come visit sooner or later to do it properly myself, but it’s important he knows I’m grateful even if I need to be here for now.’

‘I’ll make sure he knows before I go,’ Jotaro agreed. He still looked serious, as though upset by something. Usagi opened his arms again, not sure what else to do. His son held onto him tightly while trying to avoid getting tangled in each other’s swords.

‘Are you all right?’ Usagi asked softly.

‘Yeah, just… You’ve never been further away from us.’

Usagi smiled sadly down at him as he looked up at him. ‘True, but it’s also never been easier for me to visit you. I promise I’ll show up more often.’

Donatello cleared his throat from behind them. ‘Uh, excuse me.’ He clearly had no idea what they’d been saying, though when Usagi spotted the communication device in his hand, it seemed his timing was perfect anyway. ‘Before Jotaro leaves, do you think you could explain this to him? If he leaves it turned off except when he needs to contact us, the battery should last several months.’

‘Thank you,’ Usagi said as he took the device, before turning to Jotaro to explain it.

He seemed to pick up on the idea a lot more quickly and enthusiastically than Usagi had. Jotaro turned back to Donatello with a big smile. ‘Thank you! Thank you!’ he said in English, but bowed profusely anyway.

Donatello waved his hands in front of his face. ‘It’s ok, it’s for everyone’s safety, really.’

‘ _You saved my father, and now you’re helping to bring us closer. I can’t thank you enough.’_ He seemed to know the ninja wouldn’t understand, but couldn’t help saying it anyway.

‘Looks like you have a new fan,’ Usagi said simply, feeling strange about translating word for word this time.

Donnie just gave a dorky laugh before holding up the portal device. ‘So, are we all happy and ready to go?’

Mariko had walked back over to them when he’d pulled out the portal device. ‘It seems so,’ Usagi said on their behalf.

From there, their return to their world went as smoothly as it could. ‘Jotaro, _ganbare_ ,’ he called, wishing him well on his training.

Jotaro turned to wave in acknowledgement one last time before he and Mariko disappeared. Donatello gave them ten seconds to clear the portal before shutting it down again.

‘So, onto the next emotionally taxing event of the day, then?’ Donnie asked. ‘But, no one told me it was formal dress.’

‘Only for sensei,’ Usagi joked.

Donatello just rolled his eyes. ‘I’ll go see how Mikey and Raph are doing, then.’

Usagi still couldn’t help but wonder what Mariko had said to Leo. But, he was sure there would be time to ask that after the ceremony.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up that the second half of this chapter is a lot more nsfw than the rest of the story. And mebbe the start of the next chapter, I'll see what I feel like writing next week lol

Despite their formal clothing, Leo had decided to forget the speech he’d prepared and simply let the others do what they wanted. This was for them, not their uninvited guests, whom they’d forced to watch the proceedings to the side so they could keep an eye on them. Well, Karai had worded it a lot more diplomatically, but they were smart enough to know what it really meant.

Karai was sitting off to the side, quickly putting pen to paper, kneeling in the hakama that were tied under her bust in the more feminine style. They were dyed in a gradient from bright to deep red, and there was a black pattern of Foot symbols disguised as flowers trailing up one side. Her deep red undershirt barely peeked past the black silk and dark grey embroidered kimono. Her short sword was secured on her lower back, probably more fitting for a ninja clan leader than his oversized blades.

She was writing because Leo had only just explained the main event of their annual tradition to her. Each family member would place a letter on Splinter’s grave, and he’d address their concerns via Leo since he couldn’t communicate with all of his children in the same way. His answers were generally pretty vague so Leo wouldn’t know exactly what they’d written about if they wanted privacy, but that only made Donnie chortle and shake his head disbelievingly all the more. Still, he played along, as he put it.

Usagi was sitting on the other edge of the blanket, writing a letter of his own with a stern expression. Whatever he was saying was clearly serious business.

Once everyone had dropped their letters and other offerings in front of the small stone grave marker, the more permanent decorative fixture courtesy of Shiroshi and his squad, Leo took the notepad and pen off Usagi and waited.

‘ _Hmm, there are a few more than usual this year_.’

Leo smiled gently as the others around him slowly began to chatter quietly again. He could see Raph and Mona leaning over their eggs protectively. Donnie, April and Casey seemed to be taking it in turns to tick each other off, as usual. Mikey was lying on his front and texting, the goofy grin on his face enough to tell Leo he was sending messages through time. Karai was trying to get Usagi to eat a piece of liquorice, but he didn’t seem to be a fan of the smell.

‘ _Tell Raphael I can’t transcribe an entire book through you. Books on rearing human children are helpful, but they’ll have to work out everything else as it comes._ ’ Leo wrote quickly, tearing the page out when he was done and handing it to Raph.

He sighed deeply. ‘Figures.’

But Leo was already fighting to keep up with the next response. It was steadily getting more difficult for their father to reform his spirit from where it belonged as part of the universal energy.

‘ _Mona Lisa, thank you for making my son happy._ ’ She smiled softly when she read the note.

_‘Though being honest is difficult, it is generally the best course of action, when tempered with tact._ ’ April bit her lip and hunched her shoulders when she looked at Casey and Donnie beside her. Leo decided he was better off not knowing.

‘ _Hello, Casey Jones. I hope you are getting over your phobia._ ’ Casey just chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. Leo guessed he’d just written a simple greeting on his note, given the slightly sarcastic response from his father.

‘ _Donatello, you know what comes next and you are not one to procrastinate. You have done many amazing things in the past, why should this be any different?’_ Donnie flicked his hand in a gesture that quite clearly indicated he wanted Leo to hand the paper over already. After reading it he gave an aborted attempt to smile as he carefully folded the note in half.

‘ _I am impressed by your progress this year, Michelangelo._ ’ Mikey rolled onto his back as he took the note and read it.

‘Aw yiss,’ he whispered, performing a little fist pump with the hand that was still holding onto his phone.

Leo expected his father to say something to Usagi next, since he was the next person in the circle after him. However, this one was clearly for Karai. ‘ _There is nothing to forgive. I am proud of you, my daughter.’_

Leo decided to add his own note in brackets. _I didn’t mean what I said. I’m sorry._

Karai gave a small smile and nod as she clutched the note against her chest.

‘ _I’m not entirely sure how to respond to Usagi-san’s note,’_ his father confessed. ‘ _It is your decision as to whether you want to pursue this, my son.’_

Leo still wasn’t sure what Usagi had written down, but mildly dreaded finding out now. He wrote one thing on the note before handing it to him. _Later._

Usagi raised a brow at him, but Leo simply gave him a meaningful look before addressing the rest of his family. ‘All right, you know what this means. It’s time for the food!’

They began to converge on the food and drink, letting Leo retreat into the background of everyone’s attention. Leo looked at Usagi, who still seemed conflicted about the message in his hands. ‘That one’s me talking, not my father. What the hell did you write?’ Leo muttered.

Usagi seemed relieved by this, but just gave him his usual smirk. ‘Later.’

* * *

 

It was dark. The others had gone back to the house with their new ninja friends, and Usagi and Leo had wandered into the forest alone under the flimsy pretence that they were gathering a sample of river water for Donnie to test. Mona wanted to rest the eggs in the river, as her instincts were telling her, but they didn’t know what the mutagen content of the water and surrounding soil was these days.

Usagi hung back as he waited for Leo to dip the container in the water while avoiding touching it himself, just in case. When he turned back, he saw Usagi was leaning against a tree with his arms folded and a contemplative look on his face. In one hand he loosely held one of the picnic blankets they’d brought with them, instead of taking it back to the house.

‘What?’ Leo asked warily.

Usagi smiled at him. ‘I thought I’d try to be polite and ask your father if I can pursue you, but I realise it may have come off in a bad way, given your cultural expectations are so different to mine.’

Leo glanced away, noticing his heart was suddenly beating faster. ‘All he said was that it was up to me. Though it wasn’t exactly clear to me what you’d written, at the time,’ he added with a small laugh.

‘Well then, have you come to a decision?’ Usagi asked lightly, but his expression made it clear he was hanging onto every word.

‘I think so,’ Leo said calmly, though he felt anything but. He wedged the collection container between two stones where it couldn’t get knocked over. He approached Usagi, who let his folded arms drop by his sides. ‘Let’s see.’

Usagi rested his hands on his shoulders and leaned in expectantly. At the last moment, Leo leaned just out of reach.

‘No inappropriate comments afterward.’

Usagi pretended to look offended. ‘From me? Never.’

Leo laughed softly, and Usagi took his chance to dive in for a kiss again. He let their mouths touch this time, and reached up to cup Usagi’s face. He supposed doing this in the moonlight would be more romantic, but being hidden in the darkness of the shadows like this made him feel more comfortable.

‘Let’s sit down,’ Usagi murmured, tilting his head toward the blanket he was still holding onto.

‘You’re prepared, huh?’ Leo said with another small laugh. He couldn’t help but feel a little tense and nervous after their conversation earlier in the day, and what it implied about them doing now.

Usagi spread the blanket on the ground and sat elegantly. He tugged on Leo’s hand but didn’t actually try to pull him down. ‘We’ll just do what we’re both comfortable with. It’s all right if you just want to sit out here and talk.’ Leo sat on his knees in front of Usagi at his prompting. ‘We have all the time in the world now.’

He didn’t feel that was the case at all, after recent events. ‘I did want to do a little more than that,’ Leo admitted. It was hard for him to say what he wanted, sometimes. He was used to either being teased for it, or one of his brothers coveting it simply because he wanted it. Now that they were older and slightly more mature it didn’t happen as often, but he couldn’t help but continue thinking that way.

‘Such as?’ Usagi asked, not letting go of his hand while moving to sit in a more comfortable position.

Leo shuffled into the gap between his legs and leaned in to press his mouth against Usagi’s once again. He placed his hands on Usagi’s shoulders, then hesitantly dragged them down his torso. His fumbling somehow seemed to ignite a fire within the samurai.

His mouth slid down to Leo’s neck as his hand trailed down his side and along his thigh. Leo didn’t know what to do, so simply found himself clinging to the front of Usagi’s kimono. Usagi’s hand disappeared into the gap in the side of his hakama and he began stroking the bare skin of Leo’s thigh.

Leo gasped at the feeling of Usagi’s tongue stroking a line along his jugular. He reached around Usagi in an attempt to bring him closer. Usagi’s long ears brushed his finger as he tilted his head, and Leo automatically stroked the soft fur. Usagi groaned against his throat and his hand grew a little more adventurous.

Leo whimpered when the material of his hakama brushed against the tip of his tail, which had now extended past the edge of his shell. He had to restrain himself from emerging from his cloaca at the light stimulation alone.

Usagi’s hand wandered further up his thigh and over the gap between his legs, where a bipedal animal’s genitalia would normally be expected to be. But he already seemed to know what the deal with Leo’s body was when his hand continued reaching back to grasp his tail.

His thumb stroked over the opening of his cloaca and Leo moaned quietly, pulling Usagi closer and pressing his face into his shoulder and neck. He felt the tip of his penis escape the confines of his tail before he got himself under control again.

‘U-Usagi,’ he mumbled. He fumbled at the knot in his hakama, trying to get it out the way before his length fully emerged. He didn’t want whatever wetness may have gathered to stain them. Thankfully Usagi paused in his ministrations to help him get undressed.

He pushed the material out the way, but it seemed Usagi wasn’t interested in waiting for him to remove it completely. As soon as his thumb passed over the head of his penis, Leo groaned as he fully emerged.

‘Are you still doing all right, Leo?’ Usagi asked softly, turning his face to nuzzle the top of Leo’s head.

‘Y-yeah,’ he replied just as quietly. Usagi stroked his hand all the way along Leo’s now exposed length, the rough pads of his fingertips contrasting the soft fur of his palm. ‘Don’t stop,’ he breathed.

He felt a little embarrassed by his size, but Usagi seemed to have been expecting it and simply started using both of his hands instead of just the one. Leo couldn’t help the way his hips pressed forward.

He could feel he was getting close already. He reached a hand down to cover the head of his erection as he felt himself come.

He remained still for a moment, face still pressed into Usagi’s neck and shoulder. Usagi gently released him and wrapped his arms around him in a comforting gesture.

Eventually Leo pulled back far enough to look Usagi in the eye. He looked like he wanted to say something, but was managing to restrain himself. Leo wondered if it was the inappropriate comment he’d made him promise not to say before. He shifted into a different sitting position, the fact he was still hard incredibly obvious. He glanced down to see Usagi was in much the same position.

Leo reached out a hand and hesitantly brushed his fingers over him, through the hakama.

‘We don’t have to do that now if you’re not comfortable, Leo,’ Usagi said softly.

Usagi must have misinterpreted the reason he was hesitating. Leo shook his head. ‘It’s all right. I just have no idea about… you.’ Usagi’s body was still largely a mystery to him.

‘Well then, let me show you,’ Usagi said with a glint of amusement in his eye.


	18. Chapter 18

April was smiling at him a little too widely when she insistently shoved some of the breakfast they’d spent all morning making in front of him. She raised her eyebrows at him in amusement, and Leo covered his face with his hand in the hope of covering his flush.

 _Don’t you dare say anything,_ he thought as loudly as he could, and a short giggle escaped her before she returned to the bench to finish plating up food for his brothers and Karai.

‘Leo, I can’t believe it,’ Mikey said, and Leo wondered if he should have just stayed out in the forest for a few days instead of coming straight home. He glanced up at his brother, not sure if he wanted to encourage him to continue. ‘You made us all Foot ninjas.’

‘You’d rather the alternative?’ he asked, internally relieved.

‘Well, no, but we’ve had to fight against them our whole lives. Don’t you find it weird?’

‘I know it’s a difficult adjustment to make in mindset,’ Karai conceded, ‘but we can’t afford to let history repeat itself. We’re probably going to restrict our operations to Tokyo for a while, so nothing about your lives in New York is going to change immediately.’

‘Listen to your older sister,’ Leo said, barely able to hold a poker face. He wondered what their “operations” would entail now. Hopefully less organised crime.

‘So now the real reason comes out,’ Raph said. ‘Leo is having a midlife crisis and wants to shirk his responsibilities.’

Leo rolled his eyes at their teasing. ‘Sure, sure, something like that.’ His gaze shifted to the doorway that led to the living room, noticing Shiroshi and his gang were sitting on the couches and talking quietly. A pile of dirty dishes on the coffee table indicated they had already eaten.

‘We’ll need to question them further before escorting them to the airport,’ Karai said. ‘Then I’ll leave you to be keepers of the Foot equipment left in our warehouse. It’d be a waste of money to transport it back to Japan now. If you can keep the property in good repair too, that’d be good.’

Donnie perked up at the mention of a warehouse of free technology. ‘What do you have, exactly?’

Karai shrugged. ‘I don’t exactly have an itemised list, but I can almost guarantee that’s where they got the EMP from. And the motorbikes they used to get out here.’

The prospect of searching through endless possibilities only seemed to interest him all the more. And the mention of motorbikes seemed to have gotten Raph’s attention.

‘Well, ok, maybe there are some benefits,’ Raph admitted with a shrug.

‘I think with this, everything should be sorted out. But obviously you should all still stay on your guard.’ She stood with her empty plate in hand and took it over to the sink before turning back to Leo. ‘Shall we?’

* * *

 

Leo, April and Karai sat on one side of the table with Raph and Donnie behind them. Shiroshi and his gang had made their own formation on the other side. They had all removed their scarves and masks so they could see each other clearly.

‘So,’ Karai began sharply. ‘You clearly did a lot of recon before coming over here, and seem to have technical prowess above the usual standard for our clan. Tell me about that.’

The woman in their group glanced at Shiroshi before speaking up for them. ‘It was a stroke of luck that I found your network last year. Something in it was connected to the internet, and I was even able to pivot into your phone network to intercept communications for some time.’

Donnie folded his arms and tutted. ‘I’m always careful. Where was the gap, and how did you keep getting in and out undetected?’

‘You shouldn’t rely on VMs to airgap your systems from each other. It’s possible for specialised attacks, and one of your other programs, to worm in and out of them.’ She unfolded her arms and leaned forward slightly. ‘And thinking about how to get in and out of a system undetected is similar to doing it in the physical world.’

Their conversation was going over Leo’s head, but this was why they’d asked Donnie to be here. He looked mildly disturbed by her words. ‘Clearly I need to pay more attention to Metalhead 2.0’s current coding,’ he muttered to himself.

‘Before you set a rampant AI upon humanity would be best,’ the woman replied.

‘Well, anyway, that’s where our main recon came from,’ Shiroshi summarised, apparently trying to prevent further conflict from arising. ‘We learnt about this place by extracting the text messages you’d sent each other around this time last year, as well as GPS location tracking records. That’s also how we found the location of the grave.’

Everyone in the room shifted uncomfortably at the mention. They had apologised while Leo was being inducted into the Foot clan, and helped them to replace the headstone, but it wasn’t exactly something that was easy to forgive.

‘We are truly sorry about what we did,’ Shiroshi spoke for his group as he bent over and touched his forehead to the ground. ‘But you defeated our master, the Shredder. If we didn’t knock you off balance mentally, we wouldn’t have stood a chance.’

‘I understand why you did it. That doesn’t mean I’m happy about it,’ Leo muttered. The situation was awkward. He should tell the others to stop bowing and get up, but he hadn’t forgiven them yet, and continuing to prostrate himself wasn’t going to change his mind.

Karai seemed to be tuned into his feelings. ‘Enough grovelling. This is a wound that’s going to take time to heal. I’ve booked you all on a flight for tonight, so gather your things and we’ll escort you back to the city. Or, most of us will, since there aren’t enough seats for everyone.’

‘Yes, Master,’ they agreed sombrely.

* * *

 

When Usagi paused to stand in the doorway of the barn, it was Raphael who noticed his presence first. Leo was facing away from him, adjusting something on the motorbike he was currently bending over. Raphael turned to speak at his older brother. ‘I’m going to get a drink. You want anything?’

‘Yeah, whatever’s going,’ Leo replied absently, bringing what Usagi realised was a cleaning cloth over the shiny body of the bike, apparently both cleaning and looking for damage.

Usagi nodded toward Raphael as he passed him, grateful he’d given them the opportunity to speak in private, at least for a little while. When he’d woken up that morning he’d felt satisfied and content, but Leo had risen oddly early, and he couldn’t help but wonder if it was to get away from him.

Leo straightened up as he approached, but it seemed he hadn’t actually noticed him yet. Usagi reached out and slid the Foot clan banner out of the brace on the bike and examined it critically. The last time he’d worn one of these to battle was when he’d lost his first employer. His frown deepened when he realised how fortunate he was that Leo could look after himself on a battlefield. _He_ had almost been the one to die this time, after all. And despite Leo’s best efforts, he had a new scar to mark another failure.

Leo leaned against the seat of the bike, clearly trying to look more casual than he was feeling. ‘I’m not sure when becoming a bikie gang was considered appropriate for ninjas, but such is the Foot.’

Usagi held the banner behind his back, roughly where it would stick up from his armour if he were wearing any. It was a little large to be used as a personal banner, but it got the point across. ‘I don’t know, I think it suits me just fine,’ he said lightly.

Leo shuffled his feet and smiled weakly. Obviously he still felt either embarrassed or uneasy about what they had done last night. Usagi needed to know which it was. He replaced the banner in its brace before sighing deeply. ‘Are you all right?’

Leo’s brow twitched as he shifted the majority of his weight to his other foot. ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’

‘Because you’ve been subtly avoiding me all morning?’ Usagi said with a small smile. He wasn’t annoyed, he just wanted to know what he could do to make things all right again. But maybe all Leo needed was time to come to terms with what they’d done.

Leo looked a little guilty now. ‘Well, maybe… Not on purpose, though.’

‘Unconsciously avoiding, then,’ Usagi corrected.

Leo’s smile was a bit more sincere this time. ‘I don’t know, I just feel kind of embarrassed. And I didn’t exactly do much for you in return.’

Usagi opened his mouth to say something in response to that, but thought about how he could word it to make it sound less lewd. ‘Well, I wouldn’t say you didn’t do _anything_. It’s nice to know you feel good because of something I’m doing.’

Leo shifted to sit on the bike seat sideways, letting his legs swish back and forth as they dangled just above the floor. ‘It did feel really good,’ he admitted quietly. ‘How am I supposed to return that when I have no idea what I’m doing?’

'There’s no pressure. This, like anything else, just takes time and experience.’

He stepped into the space between Leo’s knees, easily taller than him now that he was sitting, albeit on a precarious surface. His arms slid up Leo’s arms as he moved to embrace him. Leo returned the gesture, his hand brushing over his wound with a telling tingle before his arms circled his waist firmly and his head pressed into his chest.

‘I’m glad you’re all right. We should stay here with Raph and Mona while the others make a trip back to New York. You know, thanks to the lack of car seats. You can start learning to heal on yourself in relative peace.’

‘Sounds like a plan,’ Usagi agreed. He pulled away when he felt Leo’s arms withdraw, guessing his brother had returned. ‘Speaking of my wound, I need to see if any longer term damage is going to affect me, and train to prevent it where I can.’

‘Ok, see you later,’ Leo replied as he hopped off the bike and returned to checking it over.

Raphael gave him a sideways look as he left, but seemed satisfied that they had reconciled. Usagi moved to a relatively flat area of the yard and began slowly running through some warm ups. It was good to have his swords in his hands again.


	19. Chapter 19

Leo shifted slightly, feeling the dirt move beneath him. It was quiet, at least compared to the city. All he could hear was the movement of animals, the stream trickling beside them, and the sound of his and Usagi’s breaths. It had only occurred to him now that he might not be the best person to teach someone how to meditate when it came so naturally to him, especially when it so obviously didn’t to his student.

The samurai sighed and lay back on the patch of rough, wild grass next to him. He leaned on one elbow as Leo looked over at him, not seeming to care about the potential of getting his clothes dirty, as worn as they were.

‘Are you all right? I assumed this would come naturally to such an accomplished warrior.’

Usagi shook his head, seeming to contemplate how he was going to answer that. ‘I usually avoid leaving myself alone with my thoughts.’

‘Why?’ Leo asked. He considered meditation a safe way to confront his more unpleasant and uncomfortable memories and thoughts. It was better than being distracted at a critical moment.

Usagi avoided his eyes, but Leo thought he might know enough about his history to guess a few of the things that still haunted him. ‘Maybe you haven’t noticed, but I’m not the most well regarded person where I’m from. I had a bastard child, watched my first employer die in front of me, lived as what amounted to a mercenary for years, won duels and challenges by throwing off my opponents with bad etiquette, got another employer despite how that’s looked down upon, ditched that employer, and now still can’t even get it together enough to protect those I care about.’

He seemed to take a deep breath before looking up at where Leo was sitting. ‘So I have quite a bit to stew on, as you can see.’

Leo unfolded his legs from his meditation position so he could lean over and place a hand on Usagi’s shoulder. ‘Well, I don’t think ignoring it all is helping you, but accepting what has happened isn’t an easy process either. You are allowed to feel feelings, you know. Even the bad ones.’

Usagi hummed, sounding both thoughtful and discontent. ‘I usually focus my mind with katas. Thinking about nothing but my form is like a holiday, especially when you travel alone.’

‘Aren’t you the one always saying a warrior needs to be a rounded person? I’m just saying, I’d argue this is part of that.’ Leo leaned forward a little more to bring their faces closer, trying to be bolder. ‘Things might not have turned out how you expected or wanted them to, but it’s not all bad either.’

Usagi gave him a wry smile. ‘I didn’t mean to imply it was,’ he said softly, and all of a sudden Leo noticed something very attractive in the samurai’s voice.

He felt a mix of nervousness and excitement in his gut when Usagi reached out to lightly place his finger and thumb against his chin. It was only now he became aware of the way Usagi’s top had been displaced from lying on his side. His chest peeked out, the hint of lean muscle mostly disguised by fur.

Leo met his eyes again, and realised Usagi was giving him the chance to act first, one way or the other. He moved in for a kiss. When he pulled back Usagi had that wicked smirk on his face again, and Leo mentally prepared himself for whatever he was going to say.

‘There are things other than kata that I’m good at focusing on.’

Leo rolled his eyes, but he’d been expecting worse. ‘Such as yourself?’ he quipped.

Usagi flopped onto his back, holding a hand to his chest dramatically. ‘You wound me!’

Leo took his chance to gain more ground and leaned down to gently place his lips on his again.

Usagi opened one eye. ‘It was a fatal wound, Leo. Don’t make it weird.’

‘You’re an idiot,’ he said affectionately. ‘But don’t think you’re the only person I’ve ever dealt with who tries to distract attention from their feelings with humour.’

Usagi put his hands behind his head as he seemed to consider this. ‘Well anyway, what happens after you do manage this emotional enlightenment, hm?’

Leo sighed. ‘You don’t need to be “enlightened” to do the technique. I’m certainly not, especially not right now. There’s a mantra that’s supposed to put you in the state of mind needed to tap into the technique, but it doesn’t really matter how you get there, as long as you do.’

‘Then maybe I’ll just have to try things my own way.’ Usagi paused and looked up at him. ‘And what is that supposed to mean?’

Leo tried to remember exactly what he’d just said, then shrugged. ‘Nothing.’

‘Did I rush you too much, Leo?’ Usagi asked, sitting up halfway. Clearly he wasn’t going to get away with a vague answer.

‘No, not really. At least, I didn’t realise it at the time.’ That was true enough. He couldn’t say he regretted it, though.

‘Is this about what Karai did to you?’

Usagi’s insight was sharp as always, bringing up something Leo hadn’t really considered himself. ‘Maybe it is. I don’t want you to get bored of me.’ _And leave_ , was left unspoken.

‘You’re going about this all wrong. If you’re feeling tortured over the fact you don’t know whether your partner is interested in you, you’re supposed to keep their interest by withholding that sort of thing.’

Leo smacked his shoulder lightly, in such a way the blow would glance off him mostly harmlessly. ‘You _also_ need more training in when you should keep your mouth shut.’

Usagi just laughed and tugged him to lay down next to him. Leo tucked his head against Usagi’s shoulder and smiled as his arms wrapped around him. ‘I told you already, didn’t I? The two of us is something I do take seriously. I’ve already chosen to stay here.’ Usagi let his hand stroke down Leo’s arm. ‘So, I’ll wait for you to make the next move, all right?’

Leo nuzzled his neck and wrapped his arm around Usagi’s torso. ‘All right,’ he replied softly, content to relax like this for now.

* * *

 

Given the almost non-existent level of mutagen in the stream, Raphael and Mona had decided they wanted to stay at the farmhouse until their eggs hatched. Leo had told Donnie not to bother coming back yet if it was just for the two of them. He must have noticed Usagi was enjoying not having to live in the shadows. It almost felt normal out here, all they had to do was listen out for a car in the unlikely event someone else drove onto the property.

April had left them enough money to buy food from the nearest shop, even if they had to go sneak around in the dead of night to actually get everything. Usagi wasn’t a farmer, but he’d been taught how to plan a village by his parents. If they were going to stay longer term, he might have suggested where to lay out crops. But as it was, they’d already been here for a few weeks, and would only be here for a few more.

Usagi glanced over to see Leo was smiling softly as he stood in front of the stove, cooking something with the eggs they’d managed to take from the half wild chickens that had taken over the property, and the bread they had recently bought along with their other supplies.

Usagi sat at the dining room table for now, close enough to see into the kitchen clearly, but far away enough that he didn’t hear what Raphael said to Leo as he approached him with one of the eggs in his arms. The infant turtle inside appeared to be almost fully formed already. Leo frowned at his brother before emptying the contents of the pan onto a plate and turning the heat off.

He took the egg in his hands and focused on it intently, seeming to glow eerily in the mostly dark kitchen. His posture stiffened suddenly and his eyes snapped open.

‘What is it?’ Raphael asked, louder now. ‘Leo?’

Leo glanced to either side before seeming to give up on whatever he’d been looking for and pulling out the short blade he kept concealed in the bandages on his wrist. He pierced the outer jelly-like layer with the blade, swiftly removing the little one from the egg and letting the skin of the egg and its jelly contents slide to the floor.

‘LEO!?’ Raphael roared, moving to take his child back, but Leo easily avoided his attack by stepping in the right direction at the right time. He laid the baby over his forearm and lightly yet precisely struck her shell with the heel of his hand.

Mucus flew out of her mouth with a worrying noise, but her gasp for breath and subsequent cries seemed to indicate it was what she’d needed. Leo turned her over and rocked her in his arms before turning back to his brother, who had paused halfway through getting back to his feet, stunned.

‘She was _suffocating_ , is what’s wrong with her, Raph. That’s not how turtle eggs are supposed to work, and it seems she should’ve hatched by now. We’re lucky she already figured out how to hold her breath.’

Raph approached Leo, who automatically tensed, unsure if he’d managed to get through to him with his words. But all he did was drop to kneel at his brother’s feet and wrap his arms around the back of his knees. ‘Jesus fucking Christ Leo, couldn’t you have just said that instead of waving a fucking knife around?’

‘I had to act fast, time was nearly up. And don’t swear in front of your children, dumbass.’

Raphael made a noise like something between a snort and a sob. Leo knelt in front of him, and held out the child so he could take her. Usagi glanced up as Mona appeared, holding the box with her salamander-like children still safely thriving in their eggs.

‘We should have known more complications would arise,’ she said softly.

Raphael was still hunched over his child, who was still crying between big gasps of air. It seemed she wasn’t the only one sobbing, though. Leo gave his brother a gentle look and patted his shoulder.

‘Come on, let’s give her a proper check up and ask Donnie if there’s anything else we should check for after what happened,’ Leo encouraged. ‘And, um, try not to smush her?’

Raphael simply grunted his affirmation and got to his feet, following them to the bathroom. Usagi moved over to the forgotten food. ‘I’ll bring this up in a minute, shall I?’

Leo smiled gratefully. ‘Please.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When you say you want to finish the story soon, but it just won't end, so you chuck a time skip in there...


	20. Chapter 20

Raph looked like he was more interested in sleeping than listening to Donnie, and for once he wasn’t faking it just to annoy his brother. His little girl had hardly stopped crying since she was born the other day, as though she was determined to fully test the capacity of her lungs now that she could use them.

Leo seemed to have a way of calming her down just by holding her, and it was the only relief her parents seemed to get. He just hoped the other two weren’t going to be like this.

‘So, did you name her yet? This is like the one time I won’t get mad if you don’t consult me first,’ Mikey said magnanimously.

Both of their brothers had insisted on returning to the farmhouse after hearing about what had happened with the first child. Leo felt better about having Donnie to help him determine their health, at any rate, and Mikey seemed to know how to keep Raph in a mostly positive mood.

Raph rolled his eyes and reached out to stroke his daughter’s cheek where she was lying in the crook of Leo’s arm. She tried to latch onto his finger, the reflex oddly mammalian, though it was nearly time for her next bottle.

‘Thought I’d keep with the theme for the name she’ll use on Earth. Artemisia, or Arty, for short. They’re legally dual citizens with Mona’s country on her planet, so she’ll pick a second name for them that they can use there, too, in case they ever get the opportunity to return.’

‘Cute!’ Mikey somehow said while breathing in. He leaned over, bouncing in his chair. ‘What about the other two?’

‘I’m still thinking. I guess if they hatch on the same day we’ll call them twins?’

‘So you’re going to have to be the big sister,’ Leo teased, smiling down at Arty. At his words she began to fuss, and started to whine again. Donnie handed her now warmed up bottle to Raph and Leo passed her over to him. ‘There, there, I know. It feels like that most days.’

His brothers laughed, and Mikey shoved him ineffectually. ‘What is _that_ supposed to mean?’

‘Well, you know, after a decade or two the feeling fades to the back of your mind, so…’ Leo glanced over at Raph, noticing he was being more hesitant than careful about what he was doing. It only seemed to make Arty fuss all the more. ‘What’s wrong Raph? Just relax and she will too.’

‘I don’t know. I feel like I’m going to do something stupid, like drop her.’

‘Raphael, you have been trained in the art of ninjutsu for over twenty years and achieved second dan in your last formal grading with Sensei, which I don’t need to remind you was over seven years ago. _How_ are you worried about dropping your own daughter?’ Leo asked incredulously.

Raph turned his face away. ‘It could happen,’ he muttered.

Leo got the impression there was more to it than just that, but with the way his brother was avoiding his eyes, he assumed it was something that needed to be brought up privately. ‘Well, at least pretend it can’t so she can calm down,’ he said instead.

‘I’ll try.’

* * *

 

Leo was lying facing away from the window, almost asleep with one of Usagi’s arms flung over him, when he heard the bedroom window open slightly. After recent events, he automatically reached for the short knife hidden under the pillow, but was relieved when he heard Raph mutter his name. Leo sat up carefully, though he suspected Usagi had woken, if he’d even been asleep at all.

Raph beckoned him, then gestured upward. He’d have rolled his eyes at the theatrics, but clearly whatever it was couldn’t wait any longer. ‘I’ll be back,’ Leo murmured. Usagi simply released him and rolled over.

Leo opened the window enough so he could climb out, then closed it firmly to prevent their conversation from carrying. They climbed up onto the roof together, and Leo noticed it was nearly time for a new moon. Once they’d settled in the dark on the uneven roof tiles, Raph turned to look at him properly.

‘Come on, out with it,’ Leo teased gently, nudging his brother.

‘I just…’ he began quietly, turning to stare up at the dark sky. ‘I don’t know if I can be a good father to my children.’

Given how difficult it had been for them to conceive, Leo doubted this was the first time such a thought had crossed his brother’s mind. Something had changed between then and his daughter hatching. ‘Why do you say that?’

‘Only one of them has been born, and she alone _cries_ constantly. And I get so… so mad when she won’t stop no matter what I do. How am I going to handle three of them when I can barely keep myself in check now?’ Raph pulled his knees into his plastron and looked down at the roof tiles now, speaking even more quietly. ‘I’m so scared I’m going to do something stupid…’

Once upon a time Leo might have strung his brother out for not taking emotional management as seriously as his physical training, but now it was clear to him this wasn’t the time for that. Instead he took a more pragmatic approach.

‘The fact you’ve realised you can’t manage it alone and you’re seeking help means you’re on the right track. But you know you and Mona don’t have to do this alone. They’re the first children to be born into a large family, so there are plenty of helping hands available when you need a break. All you have to do is recognise when you need one and let someone know.’

‘I’ll never understand how our father managed the four of us on his own…’

‘To be fair, apparently we were already toddlers when we were mutated,’ Leo mused, but soon became serious again. ‘You’re not our father, Raph. And that’s ok. No one is expecting you to be.’

This seemed to be what he needed to hear. His shoulders fell as his stiff posture relaxed for what seemed to be the first time in a very long time. ‘Are the others even interested in looking after kids though?’

‘Well, I’m happy to help with whatever you need. I like kids, but obviously won’t be having them any time soon, if ever. I’m sure Mikey and April wouldn’t object to being asked to look after them for a few hours if you just need a break. I’m not sure about Donnie and Casey, but you can always ask them, or get them to help you with other things. I think they’d probably be better with older kids, but who knows…?’

Judging from his raised brow, Raph hadn’t been expecting to hear one of the things Leo had just said. ‘Traditionally, I was supposed to ask your permission first to give you a chance to have the oldest child and let them inherit leadership of the clan, right? Are you really never going to even try, or adopt?’

‘Well if we’re going to be persnickety about it, Usagi’s son is already thirteen. But Karai is our leader now, remember? I don’t think any of us are much of a threat to that if we’re stuck on the opposite side of the world, so do whatever you want.’ Leo shifted his weight to lean on his other hand. ‘Besides, I think we should keep our father’s approach and wait until one of them shows an interest in leadership, rather than just assigning the responsibility to the eldest.’

Raph seemed to be in a much better mood now and just snickered. ‘Ok, but, I can’t believe you ever gave me shit about liking Mona when your _boyfriend_ is a goddamn rabbit. At least she’s not a mammal,’ he said, rolling his eyes.

Leo folded his arms. ‘We don’t exactly fall into modern biological classifications since we’re _mutants_. What does it matter?’ His brother still looked smug. ‘It’s not even like you two can have sex anyway.’

‘Maybe not in the “traditional” sense,’ Raph replied with a smirk. ‘Like you can talk when you can’t even hold hands with someone you like without getting nervous.’

Leo frowned and looked away, his comment hitting a little close to the current source of his own consternation. ‘Whatever.’

‘In the spirit of offering brotherly assistance, you know what to do if you ever feel pressured. I’m pretty sure me and Mike could get him if we tag team him,’ he said, smacking his fist into his open palm.

Leo sighed. ‘It’s nothing to do with Usagi. You’re not the only one with problems up here,’ he said as he rested a finger on his forehead.

‘Well, I hope you’re more successful in dealing with yours than I am,’ Raph said quietly. He stood and offered to pull Leo to his feet as well. ‘I’ll, uh, let you get back to sleep now. Thanks Leo.’

‘We’re all family, everyone wants to see the two of you and your children healthy and happy. Reach out whenever you need it,’ Leo implored, squeezing his forearm. Raph nodded, but didn’t say anything further as they parted ways.

Leo carefully lowered himself back onto the window sill, then into bed, automatically checking to make sure his mask was still tied to the head of the bed. It was one of the few mementos he had of his father now.

He shuffled over until he was pressed against Usagi’s back, then rested a hand on Usagi’s chest as he embraced him. Usagi revealed he was awake when he stroked his thumb over the back of Leo’s hand.

‘Everything all right?’

‘Yeah, we just needed to talk privately,’ Leo explained briefly. ‘Looks like I should add babysitting to the patrol shift schedule once the other two are born.’

‘Ah, I see,’ Usagi murmured. It seemed he was starting to fall asleep now that Leo had returned. ‘Is this the point at which karma comes back to bite me for not being there for this part of my son’s life?’

Leo made a soft sound of amusement. ‘Well, you’re not an official member of my ninja team, so it’s up to you if you want to be included on the roster.’

‘It’s only right for me to start acting like I’m part of this family,’ Usagi replied softly.

Leo smiled and hugged him closer for a moment, nuzzling against the back of his partner’s neck. Usagi’s backside ended up pressed against the lower part of his plastron, and it felt right.

‘Ah, so that’s the secret to turning you on,’ Usagi teased.

Leo gave the inside of his thigh a sharp pinch, making Usagi flinch and then chuckle. ‘Keep a lid on it,’ he said lightly.

Usagi seemed to find the turn of phrase amusing more than anything else. ‘You’ll have to make me.’

The challenging tone in his voice seemed to make his mind race with inappropriate thoughts. But for now, they were both tired. Leo needed time to plan an advance, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how do Raph and Mona do it? …I’m, ahem, saving that one for another fic…


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops, it wasn't supposed to take me a month to update this! Looks like I'm procrastinating over the Timothy thing too...  
> There's a bit of nsfw at the end of this chapter (in the third scene).

‘Can you feel that?’ Leo asked as he followed along with Usagi’s kata, eyes closed and senses attuned to energy flows. Usagi was practically a beacon in front of him now.

‘What, the itchiness?’ Usagi asked.

Leo’s eyes opened as he rolled them. ‘Sure, why not. Now concentrate your attention around where your wound is. There’s still a little internal wear and tear that should stand out to you.’

Usagi was silent for a long time. ‘It feels like the wear and tear on a blade.’

Leo didn’t find his visualisation that surprising, but it was completely different to his own, where strong feelings like pain looked like different coloured lights in the darkness. ‘Ok, can you see how you can repair that?’

He hummed softly and seemed to be trying to work out just that. ‘Admittedly this is a little more abrasive than I thought mentally healing should have any right to be.’

Leo mentally checked on him, but Usagi didn’t seem to be doing any damage to himself. ‘It’s just a metaphor your mind has conjured to make it comprehensible.’

Usagi was silent even longer this time before turning around to look at Leo. ‘That is the metaphor I went with? Says something about my life, doesn’t it?’

Leo just shrugged. ‘Maybe it says more about your brain than your life. Anyway, you should practice that so when we finally head home we can submit to Donnie’s experimentation. I think he’s going to have to try to make a big medical breakthrough soon.’

Usagi’s brows drew together. ‘I believe he mentioned something related to it before, saying he’d done a lot worse to people than what he accidentally did to me. What is this about, exactly?’

Leo gave him a sombre look. ‘Well, when we were younger, we met a human boy who wanted to be like us. He was under the impression we could fight well because we’re mutants, not because we’d been rigorously trained for over a decade. Donnie tried to train him, but he just kept putting himself in danger. Then Donnie tried to stop him from mutating himself, but that didn’t happen either.

‘He lived in a tank in the lab while Donnie was still trying to invent the retro mutagen. But somehow he escaped before that happened and we ended up freezing him solid to make him stop attacking us. So now, ironically, Donnie has invented the retro mutagen, but he still hasn’t invented a way to thaw him out so he’ll survive the process. No one knows how to do that with our current level of science, but maybe if we provide him with tools modern science can’t, he’ll be able to come up with something.’

‘I can see how his original error in judgement still haunts him,’ Usagi replied quietly.

Leo nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. ‘To make things worse, even if we do unfreeze and turn him back, he’s still going to look and think like that sixteen year old boy. And since his family thinks he’s either deceased or missing and in his mid-twenties by now, it seems irresponsible to just drop him off with no explanation. Also, if his mindset is still the same, how are we going to stop history from repeating itself?’

‘So in a way, waking him up will just provide more challenges. I can see where his chronic procrastination came from.’ Dealing with the consequences of his actions, even if part of them had just been down to luck, was why it had taken him so long to go back to see Mariko even after he finally found out about his son. ‘However, I think his family would be intensely relieved to see him no matter the circumstances. Getting him to understand what happened may be difficult, but his resentment may also prevent him from coming near you again.’

‘At this point, that’s probably the best outcome we can hope for,’ Leo agreed.

Usagi reached out and squeezed his hand before turning in the direction of the farmhouse. ‘Anyway, let’s head back for now. I’ll keep working on it until we return to the city.’

Leo smiled and took hold of his hand again, squeezing it gratefully as they started making their way back. Usagi seemed pleased by the affection, even if he didn’t really show it.

* * *

 

A few days later, Raphael’s other two children hatched within a few hours of each other. He’d named them Elisabetta and Sandro, but Mikey didn’t seem to be entirely approving of the latter.

‘Elisabetta is great, so much potential for nicknames. Ellie, Lizzie, it goes on! But what am I supposed to call Sandro? Can you imagine being called by your full name you entire life!?’

Raph rolled his eyes and turned away, tired of the conversation before it’d even begun. Mona Lisa picked up her son and held him close on her large forearm. ‘Sandro sounds like his Salamandrian name, so it will be less confusing for him while he is younger. You could say… Sandy?’

Mikey still didn’t look entirely convinced. ‘I _could_ , I _guess_ …’

‘I had a teacher once, all of his students called him “Sandy”. I think the name is as fitting as any other,’ she explained further.

This beginning of an anecdote seemed like it had the potential to change his little brother’s mind. Not that it mattered when they weren’t his.

‘ _Anyway_ ,’ Leo said from the head of the table. Raph looked down at Arty, where she was lying in the crook of his elbow. It seemed Leo’s advice had helped him to calm down, which had in turn helped her to calm down. ‘All Foot-related drama aside, obviously things are going to be different after we all return to the lair. We’ll need to start baby proofing, especially the entrances to the dojo and Donnie’s lab, and we’ll need to start constructing bedrooms for when these three get a little older.

‘We’re also going to need to change the shift schedule so everyone has to have a turn at babysitting every now and then.’ Leo picked up the large piece of paper sitting in front of him and held it up so everyone could see his scrawled out table. ‘This is just a draft, but are there any objections so far?’

Raph could see Leo had put a lot of thought into it over the past few weeks. He was mildly surprised to see Usagi’s name on the list now, but the samurai seemed to have been expecting it. He noticed Donnie and Usagi spent a little more time on shift, while Leo and Mikey spent a little more time on watching and eventually teaching the kids. He’d even assigned weekends for he, Casey, April and Donnie to work on renovating.

Raph watched Leo glance around at them hesitantly, clearly hoping his assumptions while making the roster had been correct. Raph noticed both Usagi and Donnie looked quietly relieved when they realised the frequency of their duties worked in their favour.

Mikey was still staring at the diagram with a big frown on his face. But it became apparent he’d come to an understanding when he spoke up. ‘Why is Raph down for less of everything?’

‘Who do you think is going to be looking after the kids every other hour of every day?’ Leo replied quickly, saving Raph from having to. ‘Call it paternity leave if you want.’

‘Oh, ok then!’ Mikey seemed to accept the explanation easily enough.

‘Anything else?’ Leo asked the room at large.

When no one said anything, Leo put his table down and said that was all he’d wanted to talk about. Raph remained seated as the others began to move around, returning to whatever they had been doing before.

Raph caught Leo’s eye before he left the room and smiled at him. He finally felt like it was going to be ok. All of them could handle this together.

* * *

 

Leo had been moving through the house, checking they had emptied all the cupboards and hadn’t left any doors or windows open in the unused rooms. They would be heading back to the city in the morning, so they needed to close the place up properly to prevent damage and keep pests out. When he’d done as much as he could without interrupting anyone else’s sleep, Leo returned to the room he and Usagi had been using.

When he arrived, Usagi was naked from the waist up and running a comb through the hair on his arm, carefully gathering the loose ones into a tissue to avoid making a mess. He looked up at Leo and smiled wryly. ‘Sorry, it’s starting to get out of hand. I can move to the bathroom.’

Leo shook his head. ‘It’s ok, I’ll help you.’

He sat behind the samurai, getting a look at his lean back and shoulders before searching for another comb. Leo wasn’t exactly sure where Usagi got them from, but he seemed to have a growing collection of them

‘Have you considered it might be easier to do your limbs and such with a brush?’

‘Where I’m from, brushes tend to be wiry, uncomfortable things. But I suppose the future has come up with a solution to that, too?’

Leo didn’t know how to diplomatically say that the brushes he was thinking of were made for pets, so he didn’t. ‘I’ll have a look around next time I’m on patrol, I’m sure we’ll be able to find something suitable for you.’ He decided working from the top down would make the most sense, so he began combing at the base of Usagi’s neck and working his way across his shoulders and down his back.

Leo noticed that when Usagi finished a patch, he would run the back of the comb over it to make sure he hadn’t left any loose hairs behind. Leo ran his fingers over the area he’d started working on and his hand came away with hairs sticking to it. Seeming to have guessed what he’d done, Usagi laughed quietly.

‘I’m afraid it takes a lot longer than that. This is the tedious side of having so much hair.’

‘That’s ok, I’m a patient guy,’ Leo replied lightly. He pulled one of the tissues out of the box so he could clean off the comb and start again.

The task required a lot of concentration, yet it was simultaneously mindless, so he didn’t really notice when his hand ended up resting on Usagi’s waist, just above where his kimono top had been pushed down to sit around his hips. The samurai lightly traced a path along one of his fingers to bring his awareness to it.

‘Leo,’ he murmured. ‘That should do for now.’

Leo withdrew to clean off the comb, but suddenly felt a little nervous. He didn’t really want things to end yet, and wondered how Usagi felt.

‘Are you sure there’s nothing else?’ he asked as he slid the back edge of the comb down along one of the pleats of Usagi’s hakama. _That_ made him sit up a little straighter.

Usagi tried to turn back to look at him, but Leo just wrapped an arm around him and pressed the side of his face against the samurai’s back. ‘Well, that all depends on what you’re asking, Leonardo.’

‘I think you get the idea,’ Leo replied softly, and they both laughed a little.

Leo moved the comb between his thumb and forefinger to get it out the way as he ran the other edge of his hand up over Usagi’s abdomen and chest. As it trailed back down again, he got brave enough to caress between his legs before diverting to his thigh. He thought he’d found an indication that Usagi’s penis was outside his body, but couldn’t be sure through the many layers of fabric since his genitalia actually had a sense of subtlety.

But that wasn’t a problem when he could reach into the slits up either side of the top of his hakama and find his way under the bottom half of the kimono. Usagi gave a soft murmur when Leo touched him through the fundoshi. He grew bolder and got up onto his knees so he could nuzzle against Usagi’s neck.

Meanwhile, Leo’s other hand quested around behind Usagi, looking for a way to loosen his fundoshi so he could get his hand in alongside him. As he tugged at the material, Usagi reached back and stroked a hand down his thigh.

Leo finally achieved what he’d set out to do, and slid his hand into Usagi’s loosened fundoshi. His bare skin was soft to the touch and even warmer than the rest of him. Leo felt Usagi’s grip on his knee tighten as he continued to explore down toward his testicles and entrance. Privately he found it kind of fascinating that it was all separated out like that.

But, he soon returned his hand to Usagi’s shaft. Usagi gasped and slumped back against Leo’s shoulder as he continued stroking him. Usagi turned his head to look up at him as best he could from his position. Usagi’s chest was heaving and the lean muscles in his arms were getting a workout as he tried to prevent himself from sliding off the bed altogether.

Leo couldn’t help but laugh lightly at his predicament, even as he nuzzled against Usagi’s face affectionately. He continued the pace of his movements, since Usagi seemed to like it so much.

‘Have you just leading me into a false sense _of_ …’ he let out a soft sound of pleasure before resuming his speech, ‘security?’

Leo made a soft sound of amusement. He felt more confident now that he seemed to have the upper hand. ‘Oh yes, obviously,’ he replied dryly.

Usagi just smiled at him, amused. Now that he’d gotten himself into a more stable position, he reached up to touch Leo’s cheek. ‘Can you go faster?’

Leo did as asked, using the regular lift of Usagi’s hips to guide his pace. Usagi turned his face into Leo’s neck at the sensation.

‘Leo, you’ll have to move my clothes aside before…’ Usagi moaned gently.

‘No time for that,’ he murmured. Instead of fumbling around with that, Leo moved his other hand so it was under the fundoshi with the one doing the stroking. He covered the head of Usagi’s penis as the other continued moving.

A short time later, Usagi brought his hand up to mute the noise he made as he came. After a few breaths he opened his eyes again and looked up at Leo.

Leo carefully withdrew both of his hands, and kept the fist that held Usagi’s come closed to prevent it from getting everywhere. ‘Leo,’ he murmured as he slowly sat up. He glanced down to see Leo wasn’t exactly expecting reciprocation, then looked into his eyes again.

Leo didn’t really know how to respond after all that. ‘I’ll go clean up, then we should go to sleep. Tomorrow will be a long day.’

Usagi seemed to accept this, and got off of him properly. ‘We’ll just have to find another time for me to reciprocate, then.’

Somehow, the prospect didn’t worry him like it once would have. Leo nodded once before making his way out of the room with a small smile on his face. Making a move had been spontaneous this time, but now he was looking forward to an opportunity to try it when things were more private and less rushed.


End file.
